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Microfiche 

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Collection  de 
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Technical  and  Bibliorjraphic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


□    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  coulour 


I — I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagie 


□    Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pelliculie 

□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

0    Coloured  maps/ 
Cartes  gAographiques  en  couleur 

□    Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Q    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


D 
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Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relit  avec  d'autras  documents 

Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serree  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distorsion  le  long  da  la  marge  inttrieure 


Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutAes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte. 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  it6  filmtes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplAmentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  iti  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-itre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique.  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite.  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mtthode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquis  ci-dessous. 


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Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagies 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restauries  et/ou  pelliculies 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  dtcolories,  tacheties  ou  piqu^es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachtes 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Qualiti  inigale  de  ('impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl6mentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  ref limed  to 
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Les  pages  totalement  ou  partieilement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata.  une  pelure, 
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to  th*  gonarosity  of: 

Vancouver  Public  Library 


L'axamplaira  film*  f ut  raproduit  grica  A  la 
g4n*rositA  da: 

Vancouver  Public  Library 


Tha  imag#«  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  ^^Eonsidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  liaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacifications. 


Las  imagas  suivantas  ont  MA  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grend  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattati  da  l'axamplaira  film*,  at  an 
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Original  copias  in  printed  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
beginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  ending  on 
tha  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  [>age  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  ImprimAa  sont  filmAs  an  commandant 
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darniire  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmAs  en  commen^ant  par  la 
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d'impression  ou  d'illustration  at  en  terminant  par 
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The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END  "). 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
darniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  ~»>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  'FIN  ". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
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.^■'' 


THE 


INDIAN  TRIBES 


OP  THK 


UNITED   STATES: 


THEIR 


HISTORY,  ANTIQUITIES,  CUSTOMS,  RELIGION,  ARTS,  LANGUAGE, 
TRADITIONS,  ORAL  LEGENDS,  AND  MYTHS. 


KDITED   BY 


FRANCIS    S.   DRAKE. 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  ONE  HUNDRED  PINE  ENGRAVINGS  ON  STEEL. 


IN    TWO    yp.JLU  M.E3...  . 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT    &    CO. 

LONDON  :    16  SOUTHAMPTON   STREET,  COVENT  GARDEN. 

1884. 


Copyright,   1883,  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Oo. 


PREFACE. 


In  the  following  pages  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  place  before  the  public  in 
a  convenient  and  accessible  form  the  results  of  the  life-long  labors  in  the  field  of 
aboriginal  researcli  of  the  late  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft.  The  extensive  and  valuable 
materials  collected  by  him  with  so  much  patience  and  assiduity  were  published  some 
years  ago  by  the  United  States  government,  and  they  form  a  body  of  reliable  data 
concerning  the  Indian  tribes  within  its  borders  such  as  does  not  elsewhere  exist.  By 
a  careful  process  of  elimination  and  condensation  the  six  bulky  quartos  of  the  origi- 
nal work  are  now  reduced  to  two  portable  volumes,  without,  it  is  believed,  impair- 
ing the  value  of  the  work  to  the  general  reader.  Some  portions  have  been  largely 
rewritten,  in  order  that  the  fruits  of  recent  investigations  into  the  origin,  language, 
and  antiquities  of  the  Indians  might  be  incorporated  in  it,  and  the  historical  out- 
lines, general  and  tribal,  have  been  filled  up  by  the  introduction  of  prominent  events 
which  had  been  omitted.  The  Introduction,  presenting  at  one  view  the  past  and 
present  status  of  the  Indinn,  the  portions  of  the  work  that  include  an  account  of  the 
present  condition  of  the  tribes,  and  the  chapters  containing  the  history  of  the  last 
thirty  years,  are  the  work  of  the  editor. 

Few  persons  have  enjoyed  greater  advantages  for  obtaining  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  Indian  life  and  character,  or  have,  during  a  long  residence  among  the 
Indians,  more  zealously  improved  their  opportunities  for  studying  their  habits,  tra- 
ditions, and  history,  than  the  author  of  the  "Archives  of  Aboriginal  Knowledge," 
which  forms  the  basis  of  the  present  work. 

Henry  Rowe  Schoolcraft  was  born  in  Watervliet,  N.Y.,  March  28, 1793,  and 
(lied  in  Washington,  D.C.,  December  10,  1864.  His  first  American  ancestor  settled 
in  Albany  County  in  the  reign  of  George  II.,  and  taught  school.  The  change  of  hip 
name,  which  was  originally  Calcraft,  is  no  doubt  attributable  to  this  latter  fact.  He 
spent  his  childhood  and  youth  in  the  picturesque  valley  of  Norman's  Kill,  and  entered 
Union  College  in  1807.  His  poetical  talent  was  early  developed,  and  "  Geehale" 
and  "  The  Iroquois,"  anonymously  published,  became  a  part  of  the  poetical  litera- 
tuiH!  of  the  country.  A  strong  taste  for  the  natural  sciences  also  manifested  itself, 
which,  in  1817,  led  him  to  make  his  first  visit  to  the  Mississippi,  the  true  source  of 
whidi,'  in  Itaska  Lake,  he  discovered  in  a  second  expedition  in  1832,  an  account  of 
which  ho  published  in  the  following  year.  In  1819  he  published  "A  View  of  the 
Lead-Mines  of  Missouri,"  and  was  appointed  geologist  and  mineralogist  to  an  expe- 

3 


7C373 


PREFACE. 


dition  under  General  Caaa  to  the  Lake  Superior  copper  region,  the  narrative  of  which 
appeared  in  1821.  The  incidents  of  an  extended  journey  tlirough  Illinois  and  along 
the  Wabash  and  Miami  Rivera  in  that  year  are  contained  in  his  "Travels  in  the 
Central  Portions  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  published  in  1825.  In  1822  he  was 
appointed  agent  for  Indian  affairs  on  the  Northwestern  frontier,  and  in  the  following 
year  was  married  to  Miss  Jane  Johnston,  a  grand-daughter  of  Wabojeeg,  a  famous 
war  sachem.  He  resided  in  the  vicinity  of  Michilimackinac  until  her  decease,  re- 
moving to  New  York  in  1841.  From  1828  to  1832  he  was  an  efficient  member  of 
the  territorial  legislature  of  Michigan,  which  adopted  the  system  of  township  and 
county  names  formed  from  the  Indian  language  and  introduced  by  him.  He 
founded  the  Michigan  Historical  Society  in  1828,  and  the  Algic  Society  at  Detroit  in 
1831.  Two  of  his  lectures  before  the  Algic  Society  on  the  grammatical  construction 
of  the  Indian  languages  were  translated  by  Duponccau  and  presented  to  the  French 
Institute,  which  awarded  him  a  gold  medal.  Commissioned  to  treat  with  the  tribes 
on  the  Upper  Lakes,  in  1836  he  procured  from  them  the  cession  of  16,000,000 
acres  to  the  United  States.  In  1839  he. published  "Algic  Researches,"  a  collection 
of  oral  Indian  legends.  In  1842  he  visited  Europe,  and  soon  after  his  return  pub- 
lished a  volume  entitled  "Oneota,  or  the  Indian  in  his  Wigwam."  "Notes  on  the 
Iroquois"  appeared  in  1845,  "Personal  Memoirs  of  a  Residence  of  Thirty  Years 
with  the  Indian  Tribes,"  in  1853,  and  "The  Myth  of  Hiawatha,  and  other  Oral 
Legends,"  in  1856. 

In  1847  Congress  directed  him  to  procure  statistical  and  other  information 
respecting  the  history,  condition,  and  prospects  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  United 
States.  The  first  volume  of  this  elaborate  work  appeared  in  1850,  the  sixth  and 
coiichiding  volume  in  1857.  In  furtherance  of  this  object,  he  at  once  prepared  and 
issued  blank  forms,  containing  a  comprehensive  series  of  interrogatories,  the  fruit  of 
ills  thirty  years'  experience  among  the  aborigines,  which  were  widely  distributed 
throughout  the  country,  and  which  elicited  much  valuable  information  from  persons 
interested  in  and  familiar  with  the  subject.  This,  together  witli  his  own  portfolios 
and  journals,  supplied  an  abundance  of  material.  The  illustrations  to  the  work  were 
from  the  pencil  of  Captain  Seth  Eastman,  of  the  United  States  Army.  Mr.  Schoolcraft 
was  a  member  of  numerous  scientific  and  historical  societies,  and  in  1840  received  tlie 
degree  of  LL.D.  from  Geneva  College. 

Since  Mr.  Schoolcraft's  day  not  much  hiis  been  added  to  our  stock  of  informa- 
tion respecting  the  American  Indian,  but  investigators  like  Morgan,  Foster,  CJat- 
schet,  Gibbs,  Trumbull,  Powers,  II.  II.  Jianeroft,  and  othei-s,  have  enhirgcd  the 
boundaries  of  our  knowledge  of  his  language  and  arcliicological  remains.  Such 
labors,  slowly  but  surely  enabling  us  to  arrange  the  scattered  tribes  into  generic 
groups  or  stocks,  are  essential  to  the  elucidation  of  the  yet  unsettled  questions  as  to 
their  ancient  history  and  origin. 

A  complete  history  of  our  aborigines,  besides  being  a  laborious  undertaking, 
would  necessarily  be  one-sided  and  unsatisfactory,  the  Indian  liiniself  having  no 
chronicler,  and  an  approximation  to  historic  truth  being  altiiinable  only  by  a  carcfnl 


PREFACE.  5 

compnriBon  and  a  thorough  sifting  of  tho  statemcnta  of  both  parties.  Nearly  every 
foot  of  our  exteuHivo  territory  lias  been  fought  over  by  tlio  two  races,  and  alniost 
every  stream  and  mountain  has  its  history  or  tradition.  The  exploits  and  dangers 
of  tho  pioneer  settlers  have  been  recorded  in  numerous  local  chronicles,  and  a  great 
mass  of  important  material  still  remains  in  manuscript.  Some  valuable  contributions 
towards  su(!h  a  work  have  of  late  been  made,  notably  those  of  ]\Ir.  Francis  Parkman 
and  Mr.  11.  H.  Bancroft,  but  the  nearest  approach  to  a  detailed  account  of  the 
aborigines  of  this  country,  prior  to  that  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  was  "The  Hook  of  the 
Indians,"  published  as  long  ago  as  1841,  tho  work  of  the  late  Samuel  G.  Drake,  the 
father  of  the  present  writer. 

Meantime,  the  rapid  spread  of  tho  white  race  over  tho  continent,  the  building  of 
railroads,  tho  search  for  the  precious  metals,  thus  bringing  the  two  races  into  still 
closer  contact,  and  especially  the  elforts  of  our  government  to  prepare  the  Indian  for 
citizenship, — all  these  agencies  have  made  him  an  object  of  general  interest  and  curi- 
osity to  a  much  greater  degree  than  ever  before.  The  future  of  his  race,  tho  "  Indian 
Question,"  as  it  is  called,  is  one  of  the  vital  questions  of  the  day,  and  is  receiving  a 
large  share  of  attention  and  study.  To  the  recognition  of  this  fact  the  present  vol- 
umes owe  their  inspiration;  and  that  they  may  help  our  people  to  a  more  just  appre- 
ciation of  their  red  brethren,  and  assist  in  the  noble  and  philanthropic  efforts  now 
being  made  to  right  their  wrongs  and  to  secure  justice  to  them  in  the  future,  is  the 
earnest  hope  of  the  editor. 

Boston,  October  10,  18S1. 


I 


CONTENTS  or  VOLUME  I. 


Introduction ""■ 


CHAPTER    I. 
Origin,  Traditions,  Physical  and  Mental  Type 


27 


CHAPTER    II. 
Lanowoe,  Literature,  AND  Pictookapuy     • 


47 


CHAPTER    III. 

INDIAN  ART,  INDUSTRY,  AND   MEDICAL   KyOWLEDGE. 

Canoos-MuBical  I„8trun.ent«-Firo  by  Pflrcu«8ion_Tri.,.rati..n  of  Maizc-Proparation  of  Snear 
and  Arrow-Heads-Handicraft  of  Oreson  Tribes-Curin-  nf  SLil     w     n[  u     n      ^ 


64 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ANTIQUITIES. 

per  Ba„d«,  etc-Maoitocs-Hopo-Muking-Geological  Cha^gt.       .    '"'"'-^'•"'^  ""'"^^^P; 

7 


81 


8 


CONTENTS  OF    VOLUMK   I. 


Cll/'PTIOR     V. 


IIELIOIOX   ANI>    MAQIC. 


Iiloii  of  God — Good  luid  Hvil — Spirits — Dakota  Goiis — GiiinUs'  Foast  and  Dance — Immortality — 
Fulur"  Stato — Sun-Worsbip — Sacred  Firo — Aljionicin  Beliufs — Attributes  of  God — I'rif.sts  and 
I'owwows — Jossakeeds — Medas — Miij;ic — War  Majrie — Hunting  Magic — Healing  Art — Wabe- 
iioes 


142 


CHAPTER    VI. 


MAKNKHS   A.NM)   CU.STt)MS. 


Inflni'Mco  of  Climate — Flora  and  Fauna — Domestic  Animals — Similarity  of  Onstonis  among  Widely- 
Separated  Tribes — Imitations  and  Changes — Observations  of  Travellers — Vioissitudes  of  Indian 
Life — Tlie  Indian  on  bis  Hunting-Grounds — Indian  Family — Domestic  Life — Women — Chil- 
dren— Courtship  and  Marriage — Polygamy — Totems — Forest  Teachings — Fishing — Hunting — 
War — Striking  tlie  I'ost — Feasts  and  Fasts— Medicine  Feast — Sports  and  Pastimes — Discoidal 
Stones — Hall- Playing— Games  of  Chance  —  Panees — Sugar-Making — Costume — Accoutrements 
— Characteristic  Traits —  Imperturliability — Taciturnity — Regard  for  Insanity — Revenge — Su- 
perstition— Manito's  Spirit  Cratl — Unicns,  Dreams,  etc. — Secret  Societies — Menstrual  Lodge — 
Human  SacriQces — Uuriiil-Customs — Mourning — Ossuaries — Iro<|U(jis  Customs — Creek — Dakota 
— Ojibway 


163 


CHATTER    VII. 


THE  TUIHRS. — ETHNOLOGICAL   DISTRIBUTION OIlGAMZATIOX^-GOVEllNMENT. 


Ali/onki'iu. — Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island  Indians — Abenakis — Penobscota — Pen- 
iiacooks  —  Allegans  —  Delawares — Pottawatoniies — Chijipewas — Pillagers  —  Shawnees —  Chey- 
cnnes — Arapaiioes — Miamis — Menotuiinies — Kiekapoos — Michigamies — lilackfcet —  Mascoutins 
— Brothertons — Ottawas — Sacs  and  Foxes — Pawnees,  Peoriiis,  Quappaws,  etc. 

Appnldcliians. — Chorokees — Creeks — Cli.>ctaw.^ — Cbicka.saws — Seminoles — Congarees — Natchez. 

Pacific  ainpe. — California,  Oregon,  and  Washingtcin  tribes. 

Dakota  or  Sioux. — Dakotas — Assiniboines — Mandans — Minnetarces — Arikarces — Crows — Winno- 
bagoas — lowiis — Omahas — 0.-<ages — Poncas. 

Iroipioia. — Onondagas— Oneidas — New  York  Indians — Wyandot  Ilurons — Catawbos — Gries. 

Athtilidscas. — Ali'-'kas — Apaches — Navajocs. 

Sfioshoiiei  or  Siitik-es. — Comanehcs — Utes — Bannocks — Wichitas — Kiowas — Pueblos — Zufli.s — Mo- 
quis, 

Yumas. — Piiuas — Papagos — Maricopas  ........... 


2:i8 


LIST  OF   PLATES. 


1.  Frontispiece. — Portrait  of  Henry  11.  Schoolcraft. 

2.  War-  and  Lovo-Sonj;8 52 

;{.  Iroquois  Picture-Writing 61 

4.  Iroquois  I'icturc-Writin); 62 

5.  Pictorial  Inscription  on  a  IJuffalo-Uobc  from  New  Mexico 62 

0.  Inscription  on  Ilocl'  six  miles  below  Franklin,  Pennsylvania,  on  tliu  Alleghany  River 63 

7.  View  of  Inscription  Ilock 63 

8.  Chippewa  Lodge. — Creek  House  In  171)1 65 

9.  Canoes 66 

1 0.  Ottawa  Canoe. — Balza 66 

1 1 .  Musical  Instruinent.s 67 

12.  Indian  Women  dressing  u  Buflulu  Skin 6!) 

13.  Medals  and  Gurget 70 

14.  A  Seer  attempting  to  destroy  an  Indian  Girl  by  a  Pencil  of  Sunlight 73 

If).  Amulets  and  Beads 74 

16.  Karthen  Vessels  from  the  Pueblos  of  New  Mexico 75 

17.  Moqui  Dancers,  Moqui  Pipe,  Navajoe  Cradle  and  Head- Dress 75 

18.  Indian  Doctor  concocting  a  Pot  of  Mediiine 76 

19.  A  Medicine-Mun  administering  to  a  Putient 78 

20.  Dight*)n  Ilock 89 

21.  Old  Mill,  Newport,  Rhode  Island 92 

22.  Oneida  or  Oneota  Stone 93 

23.  Section  of  Grave  Creek  Mound, — Antique  I'ipcs  and  Idols 9(i 

24.  Inscription  on  Rook  on  South  Side  of  Cunningham's  Island,  Lake  Krie 118 

25.  Inscription  on  Rock  on  North  Side  of  Cunningham's  Island 118 

26.  View  of  Insoriplion  Rock  (Jti  South  Side  of  Cunningham's  Island 1 19 

27.  Cavern  in  the  Pictured  ll(ieks,'Liike  Superior 121 

28.  Pictographs  on  Lake  Sujji'rior  and  Carp  River,  Michigan l'J2 

29.  Pipe-Stems 133 

30.  Ruins  of  an  Anli(|ue  Wateli-Towir,  Parr's  Point,  Grave  Cr.'ck  Ki.its,      .-st  Virginia 138 

31.  (iodsof  the  Dakoliis 144 

32.  Dance  to  the  (Jianl 146 

33.  Nocturnal  tirave  Lig'it 147 

34.  Meda  Songs 155 

35.  Operiilions  of  the  War-Chief  when  om  a  War-Kxcur.-ion 157 

36.  The  World  and  Two  Goils  of  the  Weather LIS 

37.  Pictorial  Rci^ird  of  «  ('hief's  Success  in  Hunting  and  War 159 

38.  Prophet's  Lmlge. — Medawisos ICO 

39.  Wabeno  Songs    ] f,l 

40.  Gathering  Tcpia I(i4 

9 


Hf 


]0 


LIST  OF  PLATES. 


PAGR 

41.  Indian  Woman  procuring  Fuel 16!) 

42.  Nodowaqua 175 

43.  Cradles 177 

44.  Spearing  Fish  in  Winter 180 

45.  Spearing  Musk-Rats  in  Winter 181 

40.  Indian  Shooting  Fisl 182 

47.  Spearing  Fish  from  a  Canoo 182 

48.  Buffalo  Chase 183 

49.  Death-Whoop 184 

50.  Transporting  the  Wounded 187 

51.  Striking  the  Post 180 

52.  Indians  Travelling 190 

53.  Worshipof  the  Sun 191 

64.  Medicino-Danco  of  the  Winnebagocs 192 

55.  The  Feast  of  Mondamin 1P4 

56.  Bull-Play  on  the  Ice 195 

57.  Ball-Play  on  the  Prairie 19G 

58.  Indian  Women  playing  the  Game  of  Plum-Stones 196 

59.  Scalp-Dance  of  the  Dakotas 197 

60.  Dog-Dance  of  the  Dakotas 198 

61.  Indian  Sugar-Camp 199 

02.  Pawnees  Torturing  a  Female  Captive 210 

63.  Indian  Burial 211 

64.  Feedingthe  De.id 212 

05.  Chinook  Burial 213 

06.  Mourning  for  the  Dead 216 

07.  Indian  Burial-Ground 218 

08.  Gathering  Wild  Rice 236 

09.  Guarding  the  Cornfields 236 

70.  Map  showing  Locution  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States  at  the  Period  of  the  Discovery..  238 

71.  Portrait  of  Rev.  Samson  Occuni 322 

72.  Cleaning  Grass  Seed,  San  Jouquin  Valley,  California 355 

73.  Transporting  Water  and  Gross-Seed,  San  Joaquin  Vnlluy,  California 355 

74.  Winnebago  Wigwams 373 

75.  Atofarlio,  the  First  Iroquois  Ruler 398 

76.  Fort  Defiance,  at  Cunoncito  Bonito,  New  Mexico 426 

77.  Near  Fort  Defiance,  Nuvajoe  Country,  New  Mexico 427 

78.  Navajoe  Wigwams 428 

79.  Pueblo  of  ZuSii,  New  Mexico 451 

80.  Interior  of  an  Estufa,  New  Mexico 453 

81.  Pueblo  of  Laguna,  New  Mexico 455 

82.  Inscriptions  from  New  Mexico 458 


INTRODUCTION. 


No  more  picturesque  and  striking  figure  has  in  modern  times  been  presented  to 
the  view  of  the  poet,  the  painter,  and  the  student  of  ethnology  than  that  of  the 
North  American  Indian.  In  him  the  last  discovered  of  the  great  primitive  stocks 
of  mankind  was,  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  for  the  first  time  brought  face 
to  face  with  the  most  advanced  type  of  European  civilization.  The  contrast  was 
sufficiently  startling.  Here  was  no  effeminate  Asiatic,  no  fetich-worshipping  Afr'can, 
but  instead  of  these  a  man,  erect  and  self-reliant,  and  differing  from  all  known  types 
in  color  and  other  physical  characteristics.  Though  cruel,  vindictive,  suspicious, 
envious,  and  jealous, — as  are  all  barbarous  races, — he  was  also  sagacious,  warlike, 
fearless  of  danger,  and  at  the  same  time  cautious  and  wary  to  the  verge  of  cowardice. 
Treacherous  and  deceitful  to  his  foes,  he  was  especially  cruel  to  captives,  putting 
them  to  death  with  ingenious  tortures,  in  which  women  took  an  active  part.  With 
him  revenge  was  a  point  of  honor,  and  was  to  be  gratified  by  the  secret  stab  rather 
than  by  an  open  manifestation  of  hostility.     .  .■ .     .  •     , 

I'o  counterbalance  these  defects  of  charactep  there  was  ibnudin  him  an  unbounded 
hospitality,  a  friendship  vouched  for  with  life  itself,  an  unfailhig  remembrance  of  a 
kindness  done  him,  a  nobility  of  soul  that  held"  him  firmly  to  his  ideas  of  honor, 
filled  him  with  reverence  for  the  sages  and  lieroes  rf  his'tribe;  anil  inspired  in  him 
an  ardent  longing  to  emulate  their  renown.  In  his  social  and  domestic  life  kindness 
and  self-control  were  constantly  manifested,  wrangling  and  strife  being  unknown  in 
an  Indian  dwelling.  Add  to  this  a  passionate  love  of  liberty  and  an  ardent  thirst 
for  glory,  which  enabled  him  to  endure  famine,  torture,  and  death,  and  we  have  a 
tolerably  accurate  conception  of  the  Indian  in  his  normal  condition  and  as  yet 
uncontarainated  by  contact  with  the  debasing  influences  accompanying  our  border 
civilization. 

With  a  poetic  and  imaginative  temperament,  he  possessed  also  gravity,  dignity, 
and  patience,  a  stoicism  that  enabled  him  to  control  his  emotions  under  the  most 
trying  ordoaln,  and  a  pride  that  was  proof  against  the  fiercest  torture.  Of  necessity 
a  dose  observer  of  natural  phenomena,  his  perceptive  faculties  were  remarkably 
acute.  He  was  not  progressive,  nor  even  moderately  inductive,  and  did  not  indulge 
ill  philosophie  thought.  He  was  a  fatalist,  questioning  neither  the  dispensations  of 
Providence  nor  the  actions  of  his  forefathers.  Supposing  himself  to  have  been 
created  for  the  sphere  he  occupied,  it  was  not  his  habit  to  gainsay  the  conclusions  of 

11 


12 


INTRODUCTION. 


those  who  had  preceded  him  in  the  nomadic  and  predatory  life.  Rude  and  ignorant 
and  believing  in  many  gods,  he  yet  worshipped  the  "  Great  Spirit"  and  looked  for- 
ward to  a  future  life.  His  nomadic  out-door  life  and  his  habitual  self-control  kept 
him  from  all  effeminate  vices.  He  used  tobacco  for  smoking  only,  and  before  the 
advent  of  the  white  man  was  haj)pily  ignorant  even  of  the  existence  of  intoxicating 
drinks.  The  Mobillian  tribes,  who  had  their  "  black  drink,"  or  cassive,  were  the  sole 
exceptions  to  this  blissful  state  of  things. 

Nearly  all  the  natives  seen  by  the  early  explorers  were  tribes  or  bands  belonging 
to  three  great  families,  the  Algonkin,  the  Ajipalachian,  and  the  Iroquois.  Each 
tribe  regarded  itself  a.s  <i  sovereign  and  independent  nation,  and  each  man  was  his 
own  master.  Some  lived  by  hunting  and  fishing,  others  raised  corn,  beans,  and 
pumpkins ;  but  nearly  all  were  nomads,  changing  their  abode  at  different  seasons 
of  the  year,  in  the  pursuit  of  various  kinds  of  game.  Most  of  them  lived  in  wig- 
wams of  skin  or  bark,  while  others  built  permanent  villages,  with  streets  and  rows 
of  houses.  These  were  usually  surrounded  by  palisades  of  logs  and  trenched.  They 
were  dressed  chiefly  in  the  skins  of  animals,  but  very  soon  exchanged  these  for 
blankets  obtained  of  the  colonists.  On  great  occasions,  m  councils  and  war-dances, 
they  decorated  themselves  gaudily  with  paint,  beads,  and  feathers.  The  women  wore 
their  hair  long,  while  the  men  shaved  theirs  off,  except  the  "  scalp-lock,"  which  waa 
left  as  a  point  of  honor. 

A  singular  institution  called  the  totem,  symbolized  by  the  figure  of  a  bear,  wolf, 
deer,  or  beaver,  tattooed  on  the  breast,  formed  the  distinguishing  marks  of  the  tribes 
and  smaller  clar.d.  The  spirit  of  the  animal  was  sui)posed  particularly  to  favor  the 
clan  thus  represented.  Tlie.  trilies,  were  ruled  by  one  or  more  chiefs  or  sachems,  by 
the  unwritten  but  fixed  hiws  of  ciistoinsln,d;  tradition,  their  chiefs  representing  them 
in  the  great  councils.,  The  chief  had  no  po^cr;  but  he  could  advise,  and  might  ac- 
quire great  res2>ect,and  in,5upuce  if  deserving.  Any  one  of  sufficient  prowess  and 
reputation,  who  posrfes*ieJ  self-contrv. '  .and  )vho  could  preserve  harmony,  might  be  a 
war-chief.  The  sachem  was  sometimes  a  Avoman,  a  cu.stoni  j)eculiar  to  the  North 
American  Indian  being  the  exclusion  of  the  direct  male  line  in  favor  of  the  col- 
lateral branch,  the  nephew  succeeding,  unless  unfit,  when  another  waa  chosen  in  his 
place. 

Their  priests  and  physicians  were  called  "  mcdiciiu'-men,"  who,  besides  their 
simple  curative  remedies,  made  use  of  magic  spells  and  incantations.  The  conse- 
crated meda-sack  contained  their  charincd  articles,  which  the  Indian  supposed  to  bo 
shields  against  disease,  to  render  hlin  invulnerahle  to  the  darts  of  ills  enemy,  to  draw 
the  wild  animals  to  his  path,  and  to  secure  the  great  objects  of  prosperity  in  life. 
They  used  medicinal  l".'rbs  ius  emetics  and  catliaitics,  but  the  vapor  bath  was  their 
most  general  and  effective  remedy  for  disease. 

A  chronic  state  of  warfare  existed  between  many  of  the  tribes.  The  art  of  war 
with  the  Indian  consisted  in  patient  watchfulness,  stealthy  approaches,  surprises,  and 
stratiigems.  There  was  no  dishonor  in  killing  a  wounded  enemy  or  In  ])rlvate  deceit 
or  treachery,  though  to  their  public  engagements  they  were  always  faithful.     It  was 


INTRODUCTION. 


13 


no  disgrace  to  run  away  when  tliore  seemed  no  chance  of  success.  The  how  and 
arrow  and  the  totnaliawk,  his  original  weapons,  soon  gave  place  to  fire-arms,  procured 
from  the  whites,  in  the  use  of  which  he  acquired  great  skill.  Most  of  the  hard  work 
wa-s  done  by  the  women,  in  order  that  the  bodies  of  the  men  miglit  be  kept  supple 
and  active  for  the  purposes  of  war  and  the  chase.  Their  amusements  were  the  ath- 
letic exercises,  running,  leaping,  paddling,  games  of  ball  and  with  small  stones,  and 
dances.  Boys  were  trained  from  infancy  in  feats  of  dexterity  and  courage,  acquiring 
a  name  and  a  position  only  on  returning  from  a  warlike  expedition. 

Their  implements  of  husbandry  were  of  the  rudest  kind.  They  made  earthen 
vessels,  rush  mats,  fish-hooks  of  bone,  nets  from  the  fibre  of  hemp,  stone  axes  and 
arrow-heads,  pipes  of  clay  or  stone,  often  artistically  carved,  and  beads,  called  wam- 
pum, also  used  a.s  coin,  out  of  shells.  Belts  made  of  this  wampum  were  their  on'.y 
record  of  important  events,  and  treaties  were  thus  for  many  years  kept  in  memory. 
They  had  no  written  language,  but  communicated  their  ideas  by  means  of  pictures 
on  rocks  and  trees.  Their  most  ingenious  inventions  were  the  snow-shoe,  the  birch 
canoe,  and  the  method  of  dressing  the  skins  of  aniuuils  with  the  brains.  The 
Dakota  tent,  or  tepee,  is  the  original  of  the  Sibley  United  States  army  tent.  Tlio 
Pacific  tribes  made  baskets,  some  of  which  were  so  skilfully  woven  as  to  hold  water. 
With  snow-shoes  they  could  travel  forty  miles  a  day  over  the  surface  of  the  snow, 
and  easily  overtake  the  deer  and  the  moose,  whose  hoofs  penetrated  the  crust.  The 
canoe,  sometimes  thirty  feet  lotig  and  carrying  twelve  Indians,  was  very  light  and 
easily  propelled.  The  bark  of  the  tree  was  stripped  off  whole,  and  stretched  over  a 
light  white-cedar  frame.  The  edges  were  sewed  with  thongs  and  then  covered  with 
gum.  Their  canoes  varied  in  pattern,  drew  little  water,  and  were  often  gracefully 
shaped.  They  made  the  most  of  the  materials  at  their  command,  but  their  stationary 
civilization  is  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  their  lack  of  iron,  by  their  8i>arse  popula- 
tion, and  by  the  unlimited  food-supply  furnished  by  the  abundance  of  game  and  fish. 
They  were  opposed  to  the  modes  of  living  of  the  new-comers,  believing  their  own  to 
be  superior  and  in  accordance  with  the  design  of  the  "  Great  Spirit." 


To  such  a  race,  the  first  visiting  Europeans,  with  their  ships,  fire-arms,  and  other 
evidences  of  civilization,  appeared  nothing  less  tlian  gods ;  and  so  for  a  time  they 
were  accounted,  being  entertained  by  the  Indians  in  the  most  friendly  and  hospitable 
manner.  Soon,  however,  the  inhuman  treatment  received  by  them  from  the  Spanish 
and  ot'"^''  r>arly  explorers,  whose  cupiility  led  tiiem  to  abuse  the  natives  because  they 
could  not  gratify  tiieir  lust  fi)r  gold,  or  who  enticed  them  on  board  their  ships  and 
carried  them  ofi"  to  ilie  in  a  fi)reign  land, — these  and  other  atrocities  forced  them  into 
a  liostile  attitude,  and  taught  them  that  their  persecutors  were  mortal  like  themselves, 
and  to  return  injury  for  injury. 

Briefiy,  the  story  of  the  course  of  our  Indian  history  from  the  beginning  to  the 
present  day  is  this :  to  the  greed  for  gold,  renewed  with  even  greater  intensity  in 
our  own  day,  succeeded  the  greed  for  land,  which,  as  the  Indian  regarded  it  as  his 
own   property,  he  was  naturally  unwilling  to  give  up.     A  fatality  has  seemed  to 


14 


INTRODUCTION. 


attend  liiin  in  all  his  relations  to  the  while  man.  He  has  heen  steadily  and  relent- 
lessly ])n.shed  from  '"  hunting-grounds  and  the  graves  of  his  fathers  by  the  ever- 
advancing  tide  of  emigration,  in  spite  of  all  his  ellbrts  at  resistance. 

Tlic  earlier  relations  between  the  colonists  and  the  Indians  were  such  as  would 
necessarily  exist  when  an  invading  race  sought  to  obtain  a  foothold  upon  territory 
already  occupied  by  a  barbarous  native  population.  A  war  of  races,  the  result  of 
which  would  be  either  the  extinction  of  the  weaker  race  or  its  ultimate  absorjition  by 
the  stronger,  would  be  inevitable.  By  alternate  wars  and  treaties  as  the  colonists 
grew  in  numbers  the  dillercnt  coast  tribes  were  either  dispossessed  or  exterminated, 
in  the  former  case  taking  refuge  with  the  inland  tribes.  The  Indians  believed  that 
the  white  man  designed  not  only  to  destroy  them  as  individuals,  but  to  obliter- 
ate them  as  a  i^eople ;  and  the  white  man  regarded  the  Indian  as  an  irreclaimable 
savage  who  in  the  most  barbarous  manner  killed  the  innocent  and  unoffending  set- 
tlers without  regard  to  age  or  sex.  This  irrepressible  conflict  has  continued  to  the 
present  day,  but  is  now,  happily,  drawing  to  a  close.  In  a  very  few  instances,  and 
especially  in  Pennsylvania,  the  white  and  red  races  lived  for  a  series  of  years  in 
peaceful  ])roximity.  All  the  early  efforts  to  Christianize  and  civilize  the  Indian 
ended  in  failure. 

A  new  phase  in  the  relations  of  the  two  races  was  introduced  by  the  rivalry  and 
contention  between  England  and  France  for  supremacy  in  North  America.  Each 
preferred  exclusive  claims  to  tlie  whole  tcrritorj',  and  each,  while  ignoring  the  rights 
of  the  Indian,  sought  to  engage  him  in  supjiort  of  its  own  pretensions.  In  this  effort 
to  secure  native  support  the  French,  by  tlicir  greater  tact  and  deference  to  the  preju- 
dices of  the  Indian,  succeeded  in  attaching  to  themselves  the  numerous  frontier 
tribes.  This  end  was  still  further  promoted  by  their  intermarriages  with  the  natives, 
thus  producing  a  bond  of  union  tlie  results  of  which  are  still  apparent.  The  half- 
breeds  have  in  general  foUoAved  the  condition  of  tlie  mother  and  adhered  to  the 
native  race.  Some,  however,  have  athtjUed  civilized  life  and  become  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  The  one  exception  to  the  French  connection,  lait  a  most  important 
one,  was  that  of  the  warlike  Irotpiois,  who  sided  with  the  English,  and  who  constituted 
a  formidable  barrier  to  the  French.  This  remarkable  race,  commonly  known  as  the 
"  Six  Xations,"  presents  to  our  view  the  extraordinary  spectacle  of  an  Indian  con- 
federacy having  a  popular  form  of  government  not  unlike  that  adoj)ted  long  after- 
wards by  the  United  States,  and  dating  back  a  century  bef(jre  European  <liscovery. 
France  had  also  taken  the  initiative  in  establishing  military  and  trading  posts  on 
the  western  frontier.  AVitli  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  she  opened  a 
line  of  cumniunication  between  th(^  lakes  and  the  Mississippi  by  way  of  the  Mainnee, 
Wabiish,  and  Ohio  Rivers.  Trading-stations  with  the  natives  were  established  at 
the  head  of  the  Maumee,  now  the  city  of  Fort  Wayne,  at  Ouantenon,  now  Lafay- 
ette, and  at  Vincennes.  Iler  overthrow  and  the  concpiest  of  Canada,  in  17()'>,  left 
the  Indian  and  the  Englishman  face  to  face.  Pontiac's  war,  which  immediately  fol- 
lowed, was  a  desperate  but  unavailing  en'ort  on  the  part  of  tli;tt  great  chief  to  drive 
back  the  tide  of  English  invasion.     Then  came  tin*  struggle  for  colonial  indepen- 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


dcncc,  in  which  the  Iroquois  and  nearly  all  the  tribes  sided  with  England.  The 
treaty  of  Versailles,  however,  in  1783,  failed  in  any  way  to  recognize  them,  and  their 
relations  with  the  new  masters  of  the  continent  were  left  undetermined.  In  1778 
the  American  Congress  authorized  the  employment  of  Indians  in  their  army,  and  in 
the  year  following  the  Iroquois  were  severely  punished  by  General  Sullivan's  expe- 
dition, which  laid  waste  their  territory. 

The  establishment  and  settlement  of  the  Northwestern  Territory  over  a  region 
which  had  by  treaty  been  confirmed  to  the  Indian  nations  "forever"  aroused  the 
jealousy  of  the  lake  tribes,  who,  uniler  the  direction  of  Brant,  and  with  the  addi- 
tional incitement  of  British  aid  and  sympathy,  soon  became  openly  hostile.  These 
tribes  Brant  had  confederated  together  to  maintsiin  the  Ohio  Kiver  as  the  perpetual 
boundary  of  white  settlements ;  and  they  also  claimed  that  only  by  a  General  Coun- 
cil of  the  tribes  could  cession  of  territory  be  nuvde.  The  stand  they  took  was  states- 
manlike and  patriotic,  as  well  tis  timely,  but,  after  inflicting  two  severe  defeats  upon 
the  armies  of  the  young  republic,  they  were  comjielled  to  succumb  and  to  abandon 
the  independent  attitude  they  had  assumed. 

A  far  greater  than  Pontiac  or  Brant  was  destined  to  renew  the  hoj)eless  strug- 
gle. For  years  Tecuraseh  labored  with  untiring  energy,  eloquence,  and  unsurpassed 
ability  to  arouse  his  countrymen  to  make  one  more  effort  for  the  expulsion  of  their 
white  oppressors.  In  his  negotiations  with  the  chiefs  of  the  warlike  tribes  from  the 
Northern  lakes  to  the  Gulf  he  exhibited  a  sagacity  and  shrewdness,  a  knowledge  of 
human  nature,  and  a  tireless  perseverance  which,  though  not  crowned  with  success, 
won  for  him  imperishable  renown.  His  name  stands  high  in  the  immortal  roll  of 
patriots  and  heroes.  In  the  second  war  with  England  the  elements  of  strife  so  suc- 
cessfully fomented  by  Tecumseh  bore  bitter  fruit,  but  were  attended  with  no  perma- 
nent consequences  other  than  to  weaken  the  tribes  and  to  strengthen  in  the  Indian 
mind  the  conviction  of  the  utter  hopelessness  of  the  attempt  to  overthrow  the  su- 
premacy of  the  white  man.  Since  that  period  he  has  Avarred  against  him  only  in  a 
desultory  manner,  either  in  the  vain  endeavor  to  retain  his  home  and  his  hunting- 
grounds,  as  in  the  ciise  of  the  Seminoles  of  Florida,  or  because  of  the  non-fulfil- 
ment of  treaty  stipulations  by  the  United  States,  as  in  the  more  recent  wars  with 
the  Cheyennes  and  Sioux.  Since  Tecuni  'ih  no  great  leader  has  appeared  who  could 
unite  the  red  race  against  the  white,  and  such  an  eventuality  is,  fortunately,  no  longer 
possible.  Our  civil  war  was  ruinous  to  the  tribes  in  the  Indian  Territory.  It  was 
taken  possession  of  by  the  Confederate  government,  which  was  supjiorted  by  many 
of  the  chiefs.  Others  sided  with  the  North,  and  the  contest  was  attended  with  serious 
losses  of  life  and  property.  Large  additions  were  made  to  our  Indian  population  by 
the  purchase  from  France,  in  1803,  of  the  immense  territory  known  as  Louisiana, 
by  the  acquisition  of  New  Mexico  and  California  in  1848,  and  by  the  purchase  of 
Alaska  from  Kussia  in  1867.  During  the  past  half-century  the  Indian  has  been 
transferred  beyond  the  Mississippi  and  placed  upon  reservations,  and  earnest  efforts 
have  been  made  to  adapt  him  to  civilized  life.  Progress  in  this  direction  has  been 
necessarily  slow ;  but  the  outlook  is  full  of  promise. 


IG 


INTRODUCTION. 


Our  intercourse  with  the  Indian  tribes  has  continued  for  three  centuries,  beginning 
with  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  For  nearly  two  centuries  the  policy  pursued 
respecting  them  was  that  of  Great  Ikitain ;  since  then  it  has  been  that  of  the  United 
Stjitea  government.  Of  the  tribes  which  have  constituted  the  objects  of  our  policy 
and  laws,  no  one  has  become  extinct,  though  some  have  greatly  diminished.  The 
European  governments,  founding  their  sovereignties  on  divine  right,  exercised  power 
over  the  disposal  of  all  territory  occupied  by  the  barbarous  tribes  of  the  countries 
discovered,  taking  the  latter  under  guardianship  as  not  being  capable  of  sovereign 
acts  or  sound  discretion  in  the  management  of  their  interests,  and  making  pacifi- 
cations and  "contentments"  from  time  to  time  for  intrusions  on  their  territories  or 
hunting-grounds.  The  wild  tribes  possessed  the  balance  of  power.  They  could 
disturb  or  break  up  the  new  settlements,  and,  had  they  not  been  strikingly  deficient 
in  the  power  of  combination,  they  would  have  swept  away  the  colonists  at  these 
earlier  periods.  To  conciliate  and  pacify,  to  explain  and  redress  acts  of  incidental 
injustice,  to  prevent  combinations  for  hostile  purposes,  and  to  direct  the  minds  of  the 
Indians  to  the  leading  truths  of  labor  and  civilization,  became  the  general  objects 
of  European  as  they  have  been  of  American  policy.  Indian  wars  were  occasional 
and  of  brief  duration  during  the  whole  period,  and  they  were  waged  with  precisely 
the  same  ulterior  views.  The  policy  was  pre-eminently  that  of  peace,  and  not  of 
war ;  and  when  war  ensued  the  aim  was  to  reform,  not  to  destroy  them.  Such  was 
the  system  of  England,  Holland,  France,  and  Sweden,  as  it  had  previously  been  that 
of  Spain  and  Portugal  in  South  America.  The  colonial  governors  stood  between  the 
tribes  and  the  throne,  as  representatives  of  the  king.  To  prevent  misapprehensions 
among  an  ignorant  and  suspicious  peojile,  they  employed  a  class  of  executive  agents 
to  reside  near  or  among  the  Indians.  In  the  patriarchal  language  of  the  tribes  the 
terms  of  a  father  and  his  children  were  employed.  This  pleased  the  Indians  and 
estiiblished  a  political  relation  which  they  fully  understood. 

In  its  dealings  Avith  the  tribes,  each  of  the  colonies  before  the  union  acted  inde- 
pendently of  the  others,  endeavoring  to  settle  difficulties  as  they  arose  and  to  obtain 
cessions  of  land.  Afterwards  the  general  government  took  charge  of  Indian  affairs. 
Congress,  in  1775,  creating  three  departments, — the  Northern,  Middle,  and  S',>uthern, 
— and  assigning  to  each  a  board  of  oommissicmers.  Its  policy  was  to  preserve  peace 
and  to  prevent  the  Indians  from  talking  part  against  them  in  the  struggle  with  the 
parent  government.  In  1785  it  divided  the  Indian  country  into  districts,  with  a 
superintendent  for  each,  all  business  to  be  transacted  at  the  outposts  occupied  by  the 
troops  of  the  United  States. 

In  1787  Congress  authorized  several  of  the  States  to  appoint  commissioners,  who, 
in  conjunction  with  the  Indian  superintendents,  were  authorized  to  make  treaties, 
and  the  latter  were  required  to  correspond  regularly,  in  relation  to  tlieir  official 
transactions,  with  the  Secretary  of  War,  "  through  whom  all  comnninications  respect- 
ing the  Indian  Department  shall  be  made  to  Congress ;"  and  they  were  further  re- 
quired "  to  obey  all  instructions  which  they  shall  from  time  to  time  receive  from  the 
Secretary  of  War."     The  War  Department,  through  its  agents,  the  officers  of  the 


•■,-f 


INTRODUCTION. 


17 


nrmy,  has  ever  since  disbursed  all  funds  due  the  Indiana,  whether  in  the  form  of 
annuities  or  of  gifts.  All  these  oflicial  duties  belonging  to  Indian  aifaird  were  for  many 
years  performed  by  one  or  two  department  clerks.  With  the  expansion  of  our  popu- 
lation and  the  greater  frequency  of  treaties,  the  Indian  business  had  so  increased 
that,  in  1824,  Thomas  L.  McKenney  was  appointed  by  the  Secretary  of  War  chief 
clerk  of  this  branch  of  the  public  business.  In  1832  the  oiTice  of  Commissioner  of 
Indian  Afl'airs  was  created  and  the  Indian  Bureau  organized.  In  1841)  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Interior  was  organized,  and  Indian  Afl'airs  were  transferred  to  it.  Strong 
eflbrts  have  since  been  made  to  restore  it  to  the  War  Department.  In  1854  an  act 
of  Congress  gave  to  the  Secretary  of  War  a  species  of  general  superintendency  of 
the  agents  and  sub-agents  appointed  by  the  President,  a  large  majority  of  whom  were 
taken  from  civil  life.  The  inauguration  of  the  peace  policy  in  1808  by  President 
f  J  rant,  by  which  Indian  management  was  placed  entirely  in  the  hands  of  civilians, 
Wius  expected  to  produce  favorable  results.  The  policy  was  attended  with  visible 
improvement,  but  it  has  not  latterly  been  strictly  followed. 


The  treaty  system  subsisting  between  the  United  States  government  and  the  In- 
dians was  abolished  in  1871,  after  having  endured  for  ninety-three  years.  Instead 
of  treaties,  nearly  four  hundred  of  which  had  been  made  only  to  be  broken,  execu- 
tive orders  have  since  been  issued  by  the  President.  The  treaties  first  made  with  the 
Indians  contemplated  their  incorporation  into  the  American  nation.  That  with  the 
Delawares,  in  1778,  with  the  Cherokecs,  in  1785,  and  those  Avith  the  '"hoctaws  and 
Chickasaws,  in  178G,  after  guaranteeing  them  their  territorial  rights  in  the  fullest 
and  most  ample  manner,  recited  "  that  the  Indians  may  have  full  confidence  in  the 
justice  of  the  United  States  respecting  their  interests ;  thoy  shall  have  a  right  to 
send  a  deputy  of  their  choice,  whenever  they  think  fit,  to  Congress."  The  Indians, 
as  is  well  known,  have  never  availed  themselves  of  this  privilege. 

In  1787  the  ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  Northwestern  Territory  was 
passed,  and  afterwards  extended  to  that  of  the  Southwest.  It  was  in  the  nature  of 
an  unalterable  compact  between  the  people  of  the  territories  and  the  old  Confederated 
States.  The  third  article  reads,  "  The  utmost  good  faith  shall  always  be  observed 
towards  the  Indians ;  their  lands  and  property  shall  never  be  taken  from  them 
without  their  consent,  and  in  their  property  rights  and  liberty  thoy  shall  never  be 
disturbed  nor  invaded,  unless  in  just  and  lawful  wars  authorized  by  Congress,  but 
laws  founded  in  justice  and  humanity  shall  from  time  to  time  be  made  for  prevent- 
ing wrongs  being  done  to  them,  and  for  preserving  peace  and  friendship  with  them." 
Treaties  since  made  with  the  tribes  have  related  mainly  to  removals  and  the  cession 
of  their  lands. 

In  January,  1770,  Congress,  "  in  order  to  preserve  the  confidence  and  friendship 
of  the  Indiana,  and  to  prevent  their  suffering  for  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life," 
passed  resolutions  to  import  a  suitable  assortment  of  Indian  goods  to  the  amount  of 
forty  thousand  jiounds  sterling,  the  same  to  be  distributed  by  the  Commissioner  of 
Indian  Affairs,  who  was  to  fix  the  prices,  no  person  being  permitted  to  trade  with 


18 


INTRODUCTION. 


the  Indian.s  without  license  from  them,  and  a  rcaflonable  price  being  allowed  to  the 
Indians  for  their  skins  and  furs ;  trade  to  be  carried  on  only  ut  such  places  as  the 
commissioners  should  appoint.  The  commissioners  in  the  following  month  were 
directed  to  select  proi)er  places  for  the  residence  of  ministers  and  school-masters,  for 
the  propagation  of  the  gospel  and  the  cultivation  of  the  civil  arts  among  the  Indians. 
Congress  subsequently  passed  many  other  resolutions  looking  to  the  preservation  of 
friendly  relations  with  them. 

A  (ihange  in  our  Indian  policy  occurred  when  the  government  wa.s  organized 
under  the  present  constitution.  Before  that  event  the  Indians  hud  been  treated  as  a 
free  and  independent  race,  whoso  righta  and  interests  we  were  bound  to  respect  and 
consider.  The  constitution  conferred  upon  Congress  the  power  to  regulate  commerce 
with  the  Indian  tribes.  TJiis  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  construed  as  giving 
it  power  "  to  prohibit  all  int(;rcoursc  with  them  cxcej)t  under  license."  For  nearly 
a  century,  while  striving  to  promote,  to  facilitate,  and  to  extend  our,  trade  in  every 
direction,  our  government  ha-s,  under  penalties  of  line  and  imprisonment,  prohibited 
all  intercourse,  foreign  and  domestic,  with  the  Indians.  No  person  could  traile  with 
them  without  a  license.  As  the  Indian  country  had  free  communication  with  the 
English  on  the  north  and  the  Spanish  on  the  south,  they  carried  on  free  trade  in 
both  directions  while  we  were  excluding  it  by  fine  and  imprisonment  in  the  interior. 

Trading-houses  were  established  in  1790  at  convenient  points,  for  which  govern- 
ment furnished  a  capital  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  the  biwiness  to 
be  conducted  by  agents  and  confined  to  the  jiurchase  of  skins  and  furs  from  the 
Indians.  This  policy  was  abandonctl  at  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812,  Avhen  liberty 
of  trade  with  the  Indians  wiis  granted  to  licensed  citizens  of  the  United  States  only, 
and  all  goods  bought  by  a  foreigner  of  an  Indian  were  declared  forfeited.  With  the 
exception  of  the  Cherokees,  who  would  not  submit  to  such  a  restriction,  no  Indian 
can  himself  legally  sell  anything  he  can  raise  or  mainifacture.  The  Intercourse  Act 
was  revived  in  1834.  Other  acts  hampering  and  restricting  the  Indian  have  since 
been  passed,  and  trade  with  him  has  been  so  "  regulated"  as  seriously  to  hinder  his 
efforts  towards  self-support  and  prosperity.  In  the  central  region,  from  Texas  to 
Montana,  where  cattle-raising  is  th(!  only  profitable  occupation,  tlie  agent.s  have  for 
years  vainly  implored  that  the  Indians,  who  are  naturally  and  by  long  habit  the  best 
of  herders,  be  permitted  to  abandon  farming  and  become  stock-raisers  instead.  They 
are  excluded  by  law  from  all  mining  and  lumbering  industries.  For  the  Neah  Bay 
Indians,  who  are  skilful  sailors  and  fishermen,  an  appropriation  wa.s  tusked  for  j)ro- 
viding  appliances  for  catching,  packing,  canning,  and  marketing  fish.  None  has  ever 
been  made,  but  each  year  the  agricultural  school,  the  blacksmith,  carpenter,  etc.,  are 
provided  for. 

After  treating  the  Indians  for  nearly  a  century  as  "  distinct  independent  jiolitical 
commuiiiti«!s"  and  "  independent  [)Ossessors  of  the  soil,"  C'ongress,  on  JNIarch  W,  1871, 
enacted  "that  no  Indian  nation  or  tribe  shall  be  acknowledged  or  recognized  as  an 
independent  nation,  tribe,  or  power,  with  whom  the  United  States  may  contract  by 


;  t 


INTRODUCTION. 


11) 


treaty."  Since  then  reservations  liavf  been  assigned  and  homes  established  for  more 
than  forty  thousand  Indians  by  executive  orders  alone,  and  to  those  homes  the  Indians 
have  no  title  which  a  similar  order  may  not  at  any  moment  modify  or  destroy.  The 
shelter  of  the  Indian's  nution,  such  as  it  was,  has  been  removed,  lie  has  no  legal 
status,  no  legal  redress  for  any  wrong.  While  a  Chinese  or  a  Hottentot  has  a  stand- 
ing before  tlie  law,  the  native  American  has  none,  and  is  neither  amenable  to  nor  pro- 
tected by  it.  According  to  a  recent  decision  by  Juilge  Dundy,  in  the  case  of  the  I'on- 
ciis,  a  tribe,  as  such,  may  ai)pear  by  attorney  in  the  United  States  courts  in  any  civil 
action  alfecting  their  property  rights.  For  the  i)urposc  of  relinquishing  rights  to  us 
they  were  inde])endent  nations;  but  when  one  of  these  nations  applies  to  the  iSui)rome 
Court  to  enforce  the  guarantees  made  by  us  in  consideration  of  such  relinquishment, 
then  it  is  decided  that  they  are  dependent,  domestic,  antl  subject  nations,  who  can 
only  bind  themselves  by  treaty  but  cannot  bring  suits  in  the  United  States  courts. 
Tiieir  ownership  of  the  soil  is  only  a  riglit  of  occupancy,  and  this  the  United 
States  has  the  absolute  right  to  extinguish  either  by  conquest  or  by  ])urchase.  The 
Guudalupe-llidalgo  treaty  of  1848  made  the  Indians  of  the  territory  acquired  by  us 
from  Mexico  citizens  of  the  United  States.  No  distinction,  however,  between  these 
and  other  Indians  has  ever  been  recognized  by  tlie  executive  or  legislative  depart- 
ments of  the  United  States.  For  eighty-live  years  the  title  to  Indian  lands  has  been 
extinguished  by  treaty  only,  with  the  consent  of  the  tribes  occupying,  the  sole  excep- 
tion being  the  Sioux  title  in  Minnesota,  extinguished  by  right  of  conquest  in  18G2. 

While  all  that  allects  the  Indian's  dearest  interests  is  arbitrarily  determined 
at  the  scat  of  government,  even  to  the  food  he  eats  and  the  clothes  he  wears,  he  is 
forbidden  to  go  to  Washington  exccj)t  by  invitation.  His  agent  is  prohibited  from 
going  on  pain  of  removal,  and  he  is  forbidden  by  statute  to  execute  a  power  of 
attorney  aj)pointing  any  one  else  to  represent  him  there  or  elsewhere  in  his  business 
with  the  United  States. 

There  is  no  law  to  punish  crime  or  wrong  of  any  kind  committed  by  one  Indian 
against  another.  The  criminal  laws  of  the  United  States  extend  over  the  Indian 
country  in  ciuses  where  crime  is  committed  by  an  Indian  against  a  white  man,  or  by  a 
white  man  against  an  Indian.  As  the  trial  must  be  in  the  nearest  Federal  court,  with 
a  jury  of  bortler  white  men,  the  prtictical  efl'ect  of  the  law  has  been  that  an  Indian  is 
always  convicted  and  a  white  man  always  acquitted.  In  the  absence  of  law,  Indian 
society  is  left  without  a  base,  and  Indian  civilization  lacks  its  only  sure  foundation. 


h\  182."),  Tresident  Monroe  urged  upon  Congress  the  removal  of  the  Indian 
tribes,  from  the  lands  then  occupied  by  them  within  the  several  States  and  Terri- 
tories, to  the  west  of  the  Mississipj)i  lliver,  notwithstanding  the  United  States  had  by 
its  treaties  distinctly  guaranteed  to  each  of  them  forever  a  portion  of  the  territory  in 
which  it  then  resided.  The  immediate  occasion  for  this  measure  was  the  demand  of 
the  State  oi'  Georgia  that  the  title  of  the  Cherokecs  to  their  lands  in  that  State 
should  be  extinguished.  Government  had,  in  1802,  agreed  with  that  State  to  extin- 
guish the  Indian  title  as  soon  as  it  could  be  done  "peaceably  and  on  reasonable 


20 


INTRODUCTION. 


terniH."  The  Indiims  wore  not  u  party  to  thw  compact,  but  by  the  treaty  of  Hope- 
well, in  17Hr),  every  intnider  upon  their  landH  Hhouhl  "forfeit  the  protection  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  Iiidianw  may  punish  him  or  not,  aa  they  please."  A  portion 
of  the  Cherokees,  having  made  some  progress  in  eivilizatictn,  (h-elined  to  emigrate, 
and  organized  a  government  of  their  own  within  the  Btate.  The  subject  of  their 
removal  was  everywhere!  discussed,  and  was  carrietl  to  the  Supreme  Court.  The 
policy  of  removal  wits  adopted  in  l.HIJO,  Congress  uutbori/ing  the  President  to  sol- 
emnly assure  the  tribes,  with  whom  the  exchange  was  made,  that  the  United  States 
would  forever  secure  and  guarantee  to  them  and  their  successors  the  country  so 
exchanged  with  them,  and,  if  they  preferred  it,  would  cause  a  patent  or  a  grant  to 
be  ma(U'  and  executed  with  them  for  the  same,  and  also  to  cause  then>  to  be  protected 
against  all  interruption  or  disturbance  from  any  persons  whatever.  Several  years 
were  occupied  in  the  removal  of  the  Cherokees,  which  was  the  occasion  of  much 
sacrifice,  suH'ering,  and  loss  of  life  to  the  Indians. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  these  solemn  guarantees  wore  disrcgariled,  and  that 
many  of  these  removcil  tribes  have  been  obliged  to  abandon  their  new  home  and  its 
improvements  by  the  constant  jiressure  upon  them  from  without.  Of  all  the  tribes 
removed  to  Kansas  by  the  act  of  May,  ISIJO,  but  a  bare  handful  remains.  Except 
in  the  case  of  the  Cherokee  lands  in  the  Indian  Territory,  our  government  has  never 
attempted  to  vindicate  its  honor  by  keeping  its  word  with  the  Indian.  He  has  no 
vote,  no  political  inlluence. 

The  policy  of  removal  ha>5  at  all  times  resulted  disastrously  to  the  Indians.  Its 
effect  has  been  to  i)erpetuate  barbnrism,  and  it  has  also  been  a  fruitful  source  of  cor- 
ruption. The  removal  of  the  Santeo  Sioux  and  the  Winnebagoes  from  Minnesota 
in  180;?,  as  narrated  by  ex-Indian  Commissioner  Manypeuny,'  is  a  sickening  recital, 
but  it  is  only  one  of  many  similar  instances  of  cruel  wrong.  The  failure  of  the  sys- 
tem was  apj)arent  from  the  outset.  It  failed  to  take  into  the  account  the  inevitable 
and  rai)id  ])rcssure  of  advancing  settlements  and  enterprise.  The  old  story  will  be 
repeated  wherever  there  is  a  large  and  valuable  Indian  territory  surrounded  by 
white  settlements.  Railroad  extension  will  only  accelerate  the  catastrophe.  Even 
the  Indian  Territory,  guaranteed  to  him  by  solemn  treaty,  has  to  be  patrolled  by 
United  States  troops  to  keej)  off  persistent  white  invaders.  It  did  not  benefit  the  In- 
dian, and  brought  but  temporary  relief  to  the  country.  The  reservations  j)roved  to 
be  such  only  in  name.  The  Black  Hills  territory  belonged  to  the  Dakotas  a  few 
years  ago.  Adventurers  crowded  in  in  [)ursuit  of  mineral  wealth,  and  sacired  cove- 
nants of  the  nation  were  broken.  The  system  has  not  secured  to  them  i)ermanent 
homes,  has  not  preserved  them  from  molestation,  has  not  improved  them  i)hysically 
or  morally,  and  has  not  relieved  the  government  of  care  and  expense.  The  Indian 
is  forbidden  to  wander  from  his  reservation,  and  it  is  forbidden  ground  to  the  whites, 
thus  isolating  him  from  the  rest  of  mankind  ;  and,  being  fed  and  clothed  by  the  gov- 
ernment, all  stimulus  to  self-support  is  necessarily  wanting. 


'  Our  Indiiin  Wards,  pp.  135-141. 


INTRODUCTION. 


21 


Thm  Hlisht  cxaininiition  of  Indian  hmtory,  and  of  tlio  lof^al  and  political  rclationH 
BubniHting  iM'twccn  tlio  two  raccH  Hiiico  the  Hcttlenu'nt  lM'};an,  sullicicntly  accountH  for 
the  cxistonco  of  the  no-called  "Indian  Problem,"  and  cxplainH  why  it  has  ho  long 
rcinaiiHMl  nnHolved.  The  wonder  m  that,  umler  all  the  circninHtanccH,  any  advance  in 
civilization  nhonld  have  been  made  by  the  trilx'S.  In  itH  dealingH  with  them  our 
government  has  been  Badly  derelict,  and  it  hiw  reaped  only  what  it  \\m  Hown.  (Jov- 
ernment  faith  pledged  to  them  in  nnmerouH  treaties  haw  been  frcfpiently  broken,  and 
government  agentn  have  wyHtematically  plundered  and  defrauded  them.  Their  hiw- 
tory  liiis  been  a  record  of  brokt'ii  treaties,  unjust  wars,  and  cruel  spoliation.  We 
have  taken  from  the  Indian  everything  ho  prized ;  what  have  we  given  him  in  re- 
turn? "Indian  vars,"  say  the  committee  of  Congress  of  which  Senator  Doolittlo 
was  chairman  in  18(57,  "  in  a  large  majority  of  cases  are  to  bo  traced  to  the  aggres- 
sions of  lawless  white  men,  idways  to  be  found  upon  the  frontier  or  boundary-lino 
between  savage  and  civilized  life."  A  year  later  a  new  commission,  including  the 
Conunissioner  of  Indian  Aflaii"s,  the  chairman  of  the  Senate  ('ommittee  of  Indian 
Allliirs,  and  three  generals  of  the  army,  said,  .  .  .  "Civilization  mc.de  its  contract 
and  guaranteed  the  lights  of  the  weaker  party.  It  did  not  stand  by  the  guarantee. 
The  treaty  was  broken,  but  not  by  the  savage.  .  .  .  The  Downing  nuissacre,  in  May, 
1801,  and  the  Cliivington  massacre,  in  November,  are  scarcely  paralleled  in  the  rec- 
ords of  Indian  barbarities.  A  war  ensued  which  cost  the  government  thirty  millions 
and  carried  contlagratiou  and  death  to  the  border  settlements.  Fifteen  or  twenty 
Indians  were  killed,  at  a  cost  of  more  than  a  million  apiece,  while  hundreds  of  our 
soldiers  had  lost  their  lives,  many  of  our  border  settlers  were  butchered,  and  much 
property  was  destroyed.  This  was  something  more  than  useless  and  expensive,  it 
was  dishonorable  to  the  nation  and  disgraceful  to  those  who  originated  it.  .  .  .  The 
best  ])ossible  way  to  avoid  war  is  to  do  no  act  of  injustice.  .  .  .  Our  wars  with  them 
have  been  almost  constant;  have  we  been  uniformly  unjust?  We  answer,  uidiesi- 
tatingly.  Yes !" 

These  statements  are  the  results  of  careful  and  conscientious  investigation,  and 
cannot  be  controverted.  (Jeneral  I'rook  says,  "When  the  Indian's  horses  and  cattle 
are  big  enough  to  be  of  service,  they  are  driven  olf  in  herds  by  white  renegades. 
When  his  wheat,  corn,  and  vegetables  are  almost  ready  for  nuirket,  his  reservation 
is  changed,  as  in  the  ca.se  of  the  I'oncius,  and  he  is  obliged  to  abandon  everything." 
Having  no  legal  redress,  the  Indian,  if  wronged,  has  no  alternative  but  cowardly  ac- 
quiescence or  forcible  resistance.  The  Dominiou  government,  which  has  kept  faith 
with  the  Indians,  has  not  expended  in  war  with  them  a  dollar  or  a  life  in  the  century 
that  has  cost  us  one  hundreil  millions  of  dollars  and  thousands  of  lives.  It  tscts  apart 
a  permanent  reservation  for  them,  seldom  removing  them  ;  it  selects  agents  of  high 
character,  who  receive  their  appointments  for  life ;  it  makes  fewer  promises,  but  it 
fulfils  them ;  it  gives  the  Indians  Christian  missions,  which  are  heartily  sustained 
by  the  people,  and  all  its  efforts  are  towards  self-help  and  civilization. 

All  agree  that  some  speedy  remedy  should  be  found  for  the  great  evils  now  ex- 
isting in  our  Indian  system.     Prominent  among  these  are  the  recognition  of  tribal 


22 


ISmODUCTlON. 


character  and  rosj)onsibility,  iuntoad  of  that  of  the  individual;  the  institution  of  chief- 
tainship, and  the  order  of  "  nii'dicino-UR'!!,"  the  foes  of  civilization  and  enlighten- 
ment ;  tlie  insecure  tenure  of  tiieir  homes ;  neglect  of  treaty  stipulations  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States;  and  the  absence  of  any  means  for  the  orderly  redress  of  griev- 
ances. The  system  of  annuities  and  gifts  retards  his  progress,  by  disiouraging  self- 
support  and  by  fostering  the  iilea  that  tlie  white  man  owes  him  tribute. 

Great  diversity  of  oj)inion  exists  as  to  the  jirojier  remedies  to  apply.  Those  best 
qualified  to  judge  ]>ronounce  unanimously  in  favor  of  the  ado])tion  of  the  following 
measures, — viz.,  to  educate  tiie  youtii  of  both  sexes;  to  allot  parcels  of  land  to  the 
Indians  in  severally  and  to  give  tluin  individual  titles  to  their  farms  in  fee,  inalien- 
able for  a  certain  period;  to  set  the  Indians  at  work  as  agriculturists  or  herders, 
and  thus  to  break  u])  their  liabits  of  savage  life  and  make  them  self-supporting; 
and  to  obtain  their  consent  to  a  disposition  of  ])ortions  of  their  lands  which  they 
cannot  use,  for  a  fair  compensation,  in  such  a  manner  tiiat  they  no  longer  stand  in 
the  way  of  the  development  of  the  country,  but  form  i)art  of  it  and  arc  benefited 
by  it,  the  proceeds  to  form  a  fund  for  their  benefit,  which  will  gradually  relieve  the 
government  of  tiu' exi)ense  at  j)resent  provided  for  by  annual  appropriations;  and, 
when  this  is  accomplished,  to  treat  the  Indians  like  other  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
under  the  laws  of  tiie  land,  investing  them  with  the  rights  and  charging  them  with 
the  responsibilitii's  of  citizensjiip. 

General  CJiblxm,  in  discussing  "Our  Indian  (Question,"  advocates  these  views  in 
general,  but  thinks  that  in  tlie  mean  time  the  reservation  Indian  should  be  fed  and 
clothed  utuk'r  the  army  system  of  sui)p!y  and  distribution,  by  whit'h  some  commis- 
sioned ofiicer  is  always  held  responsil)le.  Tlu^  Indian  Department,  he  says,  haii  no 
such  system,  and  does  not  understand  its  ])raetieal  working  or  value.  In  the  judg- 
ment of  ex-Indian  ( 'omniissioner  Edward  P.  Suiitii,  "  whatever  of  failure  has  at- 
tended the  management  of  Indian  afVairs  in  tiie  past  has  been  largely  attributable  to 
till'  fundaiiieMtal  failure  to  recognize  aM<l  treat  tlie  Indian  as  a  man  capable  of  civili- 
zation, and,  tlierefiire,  a  projier  subjeet  of  tiie  government  and  amenable  to  its  laws." 

At  the  outset  of  Secretary  Schurz's  administration  of  tiie  Interior  Dej>artnient, 
Sitting  Bull  had  fled  to  Canada  and  a  serious  Sioux  war  seemed  imminent,  and  the 
^«ez  I'l-rces,  stirred  up  iiy  i)ad  wiiite  men,  were  on  the  war-path.  ^V  year  later  the 
Sioux  were  less  hostile,  an  outbreak  had  oeeurred  among  the  l>aiiiioeks,  but  it  was 
because  Congress  had  failed  to  make  an  appropriation  suilieient  to  su|iply  them  with 
necessary  food,  and  a  few  restless  C'luyennes  were  committing  murders  and  other 
atrocities.  Aiiotiier  year  saw  the  Ute  outiiri'ak  and  the  (h'predations  of  \'ietoria"s 
i»ands  of  Apaches,  in  the  last  year  the  guerilla  warfiire  of  the  latter,  the  only 
disturbance,  was  ended,  and  the  L'tes,  one  of  the  hardest  tribes  to  civilize,  evinced  an 
inclination  "  to  grow  more  like  the  white  man."  The  Sioux  are  already  jiartially 
civilized.  Instead  (»f  living  by  the  chase,  (hey  are  fiirniers,  freighters,  and  stock- 
raisers. 

This  country  has  never  had  an  abler  or  more  suecessful  administrator  of  Indian 
afliiirs  than  Secretary  Scliurz.      Former  incumbents  left  everything  to  .subordinates ; 


INTRODUCTION. 


23 


the  Indian  Bureau  was  under  no  supervision,  was  entirely  irresponsible ;  business 
methods  at  the  agencies  were  of  the  poorest  possible  description;  inspection  of 
goods  was  conducted  in  a  manner  to  give  contractors  every  oi)portunity  to  swindle 
the  government,  and  the  Indians  were  systematically  cheated.  Under  Mr.  Schurz 
inefficient,  and  weak  men  were  weeded  out  and  new  and  better  men  employed,  and 
cheating  the  Indians  became  next  to  impossible.  The  rules  of  a  reformed  civil 
service  for  the  guidance  of  agents  were  applied,  a  code  of  signals  for  agents  was  for 
the  first  time  adopted,  an  Indian  j)olice  was  established,  Indians  were  employed  as 
freighters,  and  many  other  reforms  *vere  introduced.  The  evils  experienced  under 
his  administration  were  Uuu  to  our  defective  Indian  system,  traditions  of  the  past, 
the  neglect  or  mistakes  of  Congress,  and  the  impossibility  of  one  man  in  charge  of 
five  important  l)ureaus  watching  every  detail  of  our  complicated  Indian  affiiirs. 

Incidentally  to  a  defence  of  his  course  respecting  the  Poncas,  for  which  he  had 
been  severely  censured,  the  Secretary  himself  says,  "  If  those  who  participate  in  this 
agitation  will  take  the  trouble  to  raise  their  eyes  for  a  moment  from  that  one  case 
which  alone  they  see  in  the  whole  Indian  question,  they  would  perceive  that  under 
this  administration  many  things  have  been  done  which  deserve  their  hearty  sym- 
pathy and  co-operation  ;  they  woidd  observe  constant  efforts  to  secure  by  statute  to 
the  Indians  the  equal  ))rotection  of  tlio  laws  and  an  impregnaljle  title  to  their  lands 
and  homes ;  they  would  notice  practicable  measures,  not  merely  to  declare  the  Indian 
*a  person'  in  theory,  but  to  make  him  a  person  capable  of  taking  care  of  himself 
and  of  exercising  and  maintaining  his  rights ;  they  would  see  the  establishment  of 
educational  institutions,  whioh,  although  new,  have  already  produced  most  promising 
results;  they  would  see  thousands  of  Indians,  but  a  short  time  ago  vagrant  and  idle, 
now  earning  wages  running  into  inmdreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  as  freighters;  they 
would  see  the  organization  of  an  Indian  police,  which  has  not  only  been  most  effica- 
cious in  the  maintenance  of  law  and  order,  but  also  in  producing  a  moral  discipline 
formerly  unknown  to  them ;  they  would  see  multitudes  of  Indians,  but  a  few  years 
since  on  tlie  w:,r-])ath,  now  building  houses,  cultivating  their  farms  in  their  simple 
way,  and  raising  cattle,  and  asking  Congress  for  the  white  nran's  litlc  to  their  lands ; 
they  wo'.ild  nolice  the  eons|)ii'uous  al)sence  of  those  scan.ials  in  the  Indian  service 
which  at  another  period  called  forth  so  much  complaint  ;  they  would  see  a  general 
treatment  of  the  Indians  humane  and  progressive;  they  would  see  the  introduction 
of  jn-inciples  i»'.  our  Tiidiiin  policy  which,  at  a  future  day,  promise  to  work  tlie 
solution  of  that  difficult  probhnu" 

The  proposed  policy  of  the  present  administraticm,  as  outlined  by  President  CJar- 
lield  in  June,  iSHl,  to  a  delegation  of  Friends,  is  as  ibllows:  "Congress  Avill  be  asked 
to  pass  a  general  bill  |)rovi(ling  allotments  of  reservations  in  severalty  for  the  In- 
dians, and  giving  iIumu  titles  and  education  in  mechanical  and  industrial  arts,  with 
the  funds  arising  from  sales  of  surplus  lands.  \\\\U  will  also  be  introduced  to  pro- 
hibit polygamy,  providing  for  legal  marriages,  and  for  extending  the  criminal  laws 
of  neighi)oring  States  and  Territories  to  Indian  lieservatioris.  Paid  Indian  training- 
Is  are  to  be  recommended,  the  present  system  of  schools  and  police  is  to  be 


^l' 


scl 


100 


i 

h 


24 


INTRODUCTION. 


maintained  and  improved,  and  all  the  agencies  for  the  civilization,  edncation,  and 
elevation  of  the  Indian  to  the  place  of  a  citizen  are  to  be  continued  and  strength- 
ened." 

Notwithstanding  a  prevalent  impression  to  the  contrary,  our  Indian  population, 
as  a  whole,  has  probably  not  decreased.  Inter-tribal  wars  have  ceased,  and  they  are 
better  clad,  housed,  and  fed,  and  have  better  medical  attendance,  than  ever  before. 
l}y  the  census  of  1880  the  Indian  population  of  the  United  States,  exclusive  of 
Aliiska,  numbers  255,938,  more  than  half  of  whom  now  wear  citizen's  dress,  distrib- 
uted among  sixty-eight  agencies  and  one  hundred  reservations.  Those  not  under 
the  control  of  the  agents  of  the  government,  numbering  15,802,  are  princi])ally  in 
the  Territories  of  Arizona,  Idaho,  and  Utah,  and  the  States  of  California,  Indiana, 
Kansas,  North  Carolina,  Oregon,  and  Wisconsin.  The  Indian  Territory,  with  a 
population  of  76,585,  of  whom  17,3'J8  are  uncivilized,  contains  some  thirty-live  tribes 
or  parts  of  tribes.  It  has  no  large  towns.  The  princij)al  settlements  are  Tahlequah, 
the  Cherokee  capital,  Caddo,  in  the  Choctjiw  territory,  Muscogee,  in  the  Creek,  Tis'h- 
omingo,  in  the  Chickasaw,  and  Vinita,  a  railroad  town  on  the  Missouri,  Kansas,  and 
Texas  line. 

From  the  Indian  Commissioner's  report  for  1880  we  learn  that  the  five  civilized 
tribes  in  the  Indian  Territory  have  154  church  buildings,  224  schools,  with  6098 
scholars,  for  the  support  of  which  $186,359  is  paid  from  tribal  funds ;  34,550  of  the 
population — nearly  rne-half— can  read.  They  have  under  cultivation  314,398  acres, 
raising  336,424  bushels  of  wlieat,  2,346,042  of  corn,  124,568  of  barley  and  oats,  and 
595,(XX)  of  vegetables.  The  other  Indian  tribes  have  169  schools,  with  338  teachers 
and  9972  enrolled  scholars,  and  119  church  buildings.  Of  the  150  million  acres 
composing  their  reservations,  18  million  are  tillable.  Of  those,  27,078  w(  ?  broken 
during  the  past  year.  The  number  of  allot. nents  in  severalty  to  Indians  ii.  the  same 
year  was  3326 ;  of  Indian  families  engaged  in  farming,  22,048 ;  of  male  Indians 
following  civilized  pursuits,  ;)3,125.  Amount  ex|)ended  for  education  during  the 
year,  $319,901.  The  number  of  these  Indians  who  can  read  is  11,780.  The  Com- 
missioner rejKH'ts  favorably  of  their  progress  in  the  arts  of  industry,  the  demand  for 
implements,  tools,  etc.,  being  far  beyond  the  means  of  the  department  to  furnish. 

It  is  evident,  from  a  review  of  all  the  facts,  that  wiiile  in  its  dealings  with  the 
Indian  our  government  has  never  been  cruel  or  unjust  in  intention,  it  has  often  been 
so  in  reality.  The  respon.  ibility  for  its  shortcomings  rests  maiidy  upon  the  people, 
whose  moutli-pieee  it  is,  and  whose  average  sense  of  justice,  and  regard  for  natiorwil 
honor  v/lien  opposeil  to  material  interests,  it  no  doubt  aecurnleiy  reileets.  Tiie  stream 
can  rise  no  higher  than  its  source.  The  poj)ular  conscience  has,  however,  at  U'ligtli 
been  awakened,  and  streiuious  efforts  are  being  ma»le  to  rehabilitate  the  Indian,  to 
whom  civilization  has  thus  far  ben  a  curse  rather  than  a  'ilessiiig;  to  accord  him 
the  rights  and  fit  him  for  the  duties  ami  responsiijilitics  of  citizenship.  Already 
hits  this  been  in  some  instances  successfully  accom|ilislied,  and  the  old  theory  of 
its  impracticability  completely  disj)rove(l.  With  its  full  accomplislnnent  one  great 
source  of  national  peril  and  humiliation  wil'  have  for'ver  disappeared. 


THE    INDIAN    TRIBES 


OF   THE 


UNITED   STATES. 


Tca^s 


25 


!  U 


Il;   ii 


THE   INDIAN   TEIBES 


OF    THE 


UNITED    STATES. 


CHAPTER    T. 

ORIGLV,  TRADITIONS,  PHYSICAL   AND   MENTAL  TYPE. 

AnoRioiNAL  lii.story  on  this  continent  is  more  celebrated  for  preserving  its  fables 
than  for  recording  its  facts.  This  is  emphatically  true  respecting  the  hunter  and 
non-industrial  tribes  of  the  present  area  of  the  United  States,  who  have  left  but  little 
that  is  entitled  to  historical  respect.  Nations  creeping  out  of  the  ground, — a  world 
growing  out  of  a  tortoise's  back, — the  globe  reconstructed  from  the  earth  clutched  in 
a  musk-rat's  paw  after  a  deluge, — such  are  the  fables  or  allegories  from  which  we  are 
to  frame  their  ancient  history.  Without  any  mode  of  denoting  their  chronology, 
without  letters,  without  any  arts  depending  upon  the  use  of  iron  tools,  without,  in 
truth,  any  power  of  mind  or  hand  to  denote  their  early  wars  and  dynasties,  except 
what  may  be  inferred  from  their  monumental  remains,  there  is  nothing  in  their  oral 
narrations  of  ancient  epochs  to  bind  together  or  give  consistency  to  even  this  incon- 
gru(jus  mass  of  wild  hyperboles  and  crudities. 

Manco  Capac  deriving  his  i)edigree  from  the  sun,  or  Tarenyawagon  receiving 
his  apotheosis  from  the  White  Bird  of  Heaven;  tjuetzalcoatl  founding  the  Toltec 
empire  with  a  few  wanderers  from  the  Seven  Caves,  or  Atatarho  veiling  his  god- 
like powei's  of  terror  with  hissinu  rattlesnakes,  fearful  only  to  others, — such  are  the 
])roois  by  whii-li  they  aim  to  stay  the  ill-projiortioned  fabric  of  their  history,  antiqui- 
ties, and  mythology. 

Tiie  native  cosmogonists,  when  they  are  recalled  from  building  these  castles  in 
the  air,  and  asked  the  meaning  of  a  tunnilus,  or  the  jige  of  some  gigantic  tooth  or 
bdiie,  wliich  remains  to  attest  geological  changes  in  the  surface  of  the  continent, 
answer  witli  a  stare;  and,  if  they  speak  at  all,  they  make  such  heavy  drafts  upon  the 
imagination  that  history  never  knows  when  she  has  made  allowances  enough  on  this 
head. 

A  mammoth  bull  jumping  over  the  great  lakes;  a  grape-vine  carrying  a  whole 


«18 


28 


THE  JXDIAX   TRlIiKS   OF  TlIK   UMTED  STATES. 


tribe  across  the  ]Missis.-iip|)i ;  an  eagle's  wings  producing  the  jihenomcnon  of  thunder, 
or  its  Hashing  eyes  that  of  liglitning;  men  stcj)i)ing  in  viewless  tracks  uj)  the  blue 
arch  of  heaven;  the  rainbow  made  a  baldric;  a  little  boy  catching  the  sun's  beams 
in  a  snare;  hawks  rescuing  shijiwrecked  mariners  from  an  angry  ocean  and  carrying 
them  u])  a  steep  ascent  in  leathern  bags;  these,  and  a  plain  event  of  last  year's  occur- 
rence, are  related  by  the  chiefs  with  equal  gravity,  and  exjjccted  to  claim  an  equal 
share  of  belief  and  historic  attention.  "Where  so  nuicli  is  pure  mythologic  dross,  or 
recpiires  to  bo  put  in  the  crucible  of  allegory,  there  appears  to  be  little  room  for  any 
fact.     Yet  there  are  some  facts  against  which  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes. 

AVe  jierceive  in  them  a  marked  variety  of  the  human  race  who  have  been  lost  to 
all  history,  ancient  and  modern.  Of  their  precise  origin,  and  the  era  and  maimer  of 
their  apiiearance  on  this  contini'ut,  we  know  nothing  Avith  certainty.  Philosophical 
inquiry  is  our  only  guide.  This  is  still  tlie  judgiiuMit  of  the  best  inquirers  who  have 
investigated  the  snl)J(rt  through  the  medium  of  physiology,  languages,  antiquities, 
arts,  traditions,  or  whatevi'r  other  nu'ans  may  have  been  employed  to  solve  the  ques- 
tion. Tlu'v  are,  evidently,  aiu'ient  in  their  occupancy  of  the  continent.'  There 
are  ruins  here  which  i)rol)al)lv  date  within  five  hundred  vears  of  the  foundation  of 
]>at)ylon.  AVe  have  kiuiwn  this  continent  less  than  four  centuries.  But  it  is  now 
known  that  the  Scandinavians  had  set  foot  ujwn  it  at  a  long  prior  date,  and  had 
visited  the  northern  part  of  it  from  Clrcenland  as  early  as  the  tenth  century. 

AVliere  the  native  race  can  lie  sujtposed  to  have  had  its  origin,  history  may  vainly 
inquire.  Herodotus  is  silent ;  there  is  nothing  to  be  learned  from  Sanehoniathon  and 
the  fragmentary  ancients.  The  cuneiform  and  the  Nilotic  inscriptions,  the  oldest  in 
the  world,  are  mute.  Our  Indian  stocks  seem  to  be  still  nK)re  ancient.  Their  lan- 
guages, their  peculiar  idiosyncrasy,  all  that  is  ]»cculiar  about  them,  denote  this. 
The  remotest  records  of  the  traditions  and  discoveries  of  early  nations  in  the  Old 
"World  give  no  traces  of  their  former  position  ;  and  at  the  epoch  of  their  discovery 
on  this  contineut  they  were  unrecognized  among  tlie  existing  varieties  of  man.^ 

The  discovery  of  the  American  continent  having  thus  introduced  a  new  and  per- 

'  Tlio  rcsiills  iif  scientific  i?ivi'sti;j:ati(in  tlins  far,  tlimt,E;li  incomplete,  render  it  liy  ni)  means  iniprdbablo 
that  man  is  as  oli]  hero  as  anywiiorc  else.  Pnifessor  A'rassiz  was  of  tlio  opinion  thai,  so  far  as  her  physical 
history  is  concerned,  America  has  been  falsely  dcnoininaleii  the  New  Wmlil.  Says  lliat  eminent  naturalist, 
"  Hers  was  tile  lirst  dry  land  lifteil  out  of  the  waters,  hers  tlie  first  ^horc  washed  liy  the  ocean  that  envel- 
oped all  tlio  earth  beside,  and  while  Kuroiie  was  represented  only  by  i-liinds  ri-inir  here  and  there  abovi' 
tho  sea,  America  already  stretched,  an  unbroken  lini'  of  land.  fVoin  Nova  .'■^cotia  to  the  far  west." — (Imhijiinl 
S/,'i:tchr.i,  p.  1 . 

'  With  Chiiii'se  and  Jajiaiiese  history  Wi'  arc  as  yet  loo  imperfectly  ac(piainled  to  sjieak  with  certainly 
<d'  iheni.  It  is  stated  by  a  recent  writer  that  the  ancient  Chinese  reeo;j:nized  the  Anieri<iin  coiiliiicnt 
under  tb('  name  of  rocSAXd.  Vide  .^1.  de  (Ui'v^nca'  "  Mniininn  ilr  V Aaidhnli'  ilm  Iiixni'/iliiiiis,  clc," 
\<i\  x.wiii.  p.  .jdli,  Paris,  KiTl  ;  al.so,  M.  de  I'aravey's  '•  L'Ani-'iiijnr  wn/.s  /e  Xom  dv  I'nj/x  dr  Fmi  Shikj^  iIc," 
Paris.  IS  It. 

'lumboldt  observes  that  "  where  history,  .sn  far  as  it  is  founded  <m  certain  and  distinctly  expressed  evi- 
('  is  silent,  there  remain  only  differi'iit  (li>'_'rees  of  jirobabilily ;  but  an  absidnte  denial  of  all  facts  in  the 

•..  -;  history,  of  wlii>  b  llie  eviil'iice  is  not  ili>iincl,  ajipears  to  me  no  happy  application  of  pbiloloj;ical  and 
lii.-.'-v  .1  criiiiisin." — (''^v/c^s  vol.  ii,  p.  III!). 


^•*yf 


ORIGIN,  TRADITIONS,  I'lIYSICAL  AND  MENTAL    TYPE. 


29 


pcoi)ling  were 


plexing  problem  to  the  learned  world,  opinions  as  to  its  origin  and 
various  and  discordant  in  the  extreme.  Turning  to  the  Scriptures,  they  found  all 
mankind  descended  from  a  single  j)air.  Then  the  (juestion  arose,  Might  not  the 
original  pair  have  been  American  as  well  as  Asiatic?  The  theory  of  a  Jewish 
origin,  now  generally  abandoned,  has  been  discussed  at  greater  length  than  any 
other.  Professor  Nordenskjold,  of  the  Swdlish  Polar  Expedition  of  187<S-7y,  sup- 
[losed  ho  had  found  the  lost  Tchuktcliis  of  the  northeast  coast  of  Siberia,  thought  to 
be  the  connecting  link  between  the  races  of  the  two  worlds, — the  Mongols  of  Asia 
and  the  Ii'dians  and  Eskimos  of  America.  Other  ethnological  inquirers  have,  how- 
ever, satisfactorily  shown  that,  so  far  from  the  latter  being  a  connecting  link  at  the 
most  conti<,a'..>as  point  between  the  hemispheres,  their  ])hysical  characteristics  afford 
jiositive  p'oof  to  the  contrary.  To  the  theory  of  Asiatic  origin  the  most  reason- 
able yet  pi'opouudcd  valid  objection  is  found  in  the  absence  of  the  horse  and  other 
domestic  i.nimals,  and  also  of  the  useful  plants  and  cereals  necessary  to  a  nomadic 
and  ])astoral  people.  Again,  how  could  tropical  animals  have  reached  this  continent 
via  the  polar  regions?  It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  American  Indian  manifests 
a  decided  affinity  to  the  jMoiigolian  type  Avhich  prevails  over  the  vast  areas  lying 
cast  of  a  line  drawn  from  Lapland  to  Siam.  Its  definition  includes  a  short  squat 
build,  a  yellowish-brown  complexion,  with  black  eyes,  black  straight  hair,  a  broad 
skull,  usually  without  i)rominent  brow-ridges,  flat  small  nose,  and  obliipie  eyes. 
The  difl'erences  raise  difficult  problems  of  gradual  variation  as  well  as  mixture  of 
races. 

The  theory  of  autochthonic  origin,  though  opposed  by  Yirehow  and  others,  is 
worthy  the  gravest  consideration.  No  theory  of  foreign  origin  has  been  proved,  or 
even  fairly  sustained.  Says  II.  II.  Bancroft,'  "The  particulars  in  which  the  Amer- 
icans are  shown  to  resemble  any  given  people  of  the  Old  World  are  insignificant  in 
comparison  with  the  jiarticulars  in  which  they  do  not  resemble  them."  The  exist- 
ence here  and  there  of  Old  AV'orld  ideas  and  customs  may  easily  be  account  ec'  for  by 
the  fact  that  Asiatics  or  I'acific  islanders,  in  stray  vessels  thrown  ujjon  the  American 
coast,  may  have  settled  here  and  imparted  their  knowledge  to  the  inhabitants.  Of 
twenty-eight  Japanese  junks  that  drifted  ui)on  the  American  coast  between  the  years 
liSr)()  and  187"),  only  twelve  were  deserted.  Traces  of  the  Japanese  language  are 
found  among  the  coast  tribes  of  the  Pacific.  The  ])eo[)le  on  both  sides  of  Behring's 
Straits  are  known  to  have  been  in  coinnumication  from  time  imuuMnorial. 

If  this  continent  was  peopled  from  the  Old  World,  it  nuist  have  been  at  a  period 
far  remote,  and  at  a  time  when  men  were  ignorant  of  the  use  of  iron.  All  the  indi- 
cations point  to  a  remote  anticpiity.  It  is  evident  that  the  (piestion  nnist  be  settled 
in  acconlanee  not  with  the  old  chronology,  but  with  the  discoveries  of  modern 
scieuci'.  Bunsen  claims  for  the  Imlian  an  anticpiity  of  at  least  twenty  tliousaiul 
years,  based  on  a  common  origin  of  language.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  proltal)le  that 
each  continent  has  had  its  aboriginal  stock,  iieculiar  in  color  and  in  character,  and 


ill 


I 


'  Native  Kaces  of  the  fauifif  Coast. 


no 


rilE  IXDIAN  riilUKS  OF   TIIK   UMTKD   STA  T/:S. 


that  oaeli  has  cxpcrionc'Cil  ii'pcatc'd  modi licat ions  by  immigrating  or  Hliiiiwrockctl 
colonists  irom  abroad.  All  tiiu  prcsrnt  distinct  tyjios  of  races  were  c(|nally  well 
ildincd  when  human  history  begins.  No  variety  has  since  originated.  "The  best 
of  the  argument"  as  to  this  unsettled  question, — the  unity  of  the  human  race, — says 
j\[r.  Wallace,  the  naturalist,  "  is  with  those  who  maintain  the  primitive  diversity  of 
man." 

To  add  to  the  intricacy  of  this  problem  of  race,  there  come  in  the  indubitable 
evidences  of  a  highly  civilized  prc-existent  family  of  men,  not  nomads,  but  subsisting 
in  large  aggregations  by  agriculture,  who  disappeared  many  centuries  ago,  and  who, 
from  the  numerous  and  peculiar  traces  of  their  labors  in  the  central  valleys  of  North 
America,  have  received  the  name  of  Mound-lhiiiders.  The  object  of  these  construc- 
tiims  is  often  doubt  fid,  and  one  class  of  them  has  hitherto  ballled  conjecture.  It  is 
worthy  of  notice  that  the  jdaces  where  these  remains  are  most  abundant  are  the  pres- 
ent natural  centres  of  population  and  trade.  The  site  of  St.  Louis  was  so  thickly 
studded  with  them  as  to  ac(iuire  the  title  of  the  !Mound  C'ity. 

The  late  l*rof.  J.  W.  Foster  believed  that  their  civilization  was  of  an  older  and 
higher  order  than  thiit  of  the  Aztecs,  and  that  they  were  of  Southern  origin,  lie 
was  also  of  opinion  that  the  ruins  of  Central  America  arc  more  recent  than  the 
mounds  of  the  ^Iississi])pi  Valley,  and  the  results  of  hi.s  observations  of  the  crania  of 
the  ]\[ound-]>uilders  led  him  to  infer  that  they  were  clearly  separated  from  the  exist- 
ing races  of  men,  and  particularly  from  the  Indians  of  North  America. 

"The  distinctive  character  of  these  structures,"  says  Foster,  "and  also  the  tradi- 
tions which  have  been  preserved,  indicate  that  this  people  was  expelled  from  the 
Mississippi  Valley  by  a  fierce  and  barbarous  race,  and  thiit  they  ibund  a  refuge  in 
the  more  genial  dinuite  of  Central  America,  where  they  developed  their  germs  of 
civilization  originally  ])lanted  there,  attaining  a  perfection  which  has  elicited  the  ad- 
miration of  every  modern  explorer."  In  their  domestic  economy  and  civil  relations 
while  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  they  dill'cred  materially  from  the  Indians  found  at 
the  jieriod  of  discovery. 

It  was  olivious  to  Columbus  that,  as  these  newly  discovered  tribes  were  not  de- 
scemlants  of  tlu;  fair-skinned  stocks  of  Kuroj)e  or  Asia,  or  of  the  iilack-skinned 
race  of  Africa,  neither  had  they  any  of  the  peculiar  arts  or  customs  of  the  one,  or 
the  characteristically  barbarous  traits  of  the  other.  India  appeared  to  furnish  the 
ethnological  liidc  to  which  they  nnist  be  referred;  and  it  was  i'mm  that  (piarter  that 
the  strongest  testimonies  of  resendtlance  came.  I>elieving  himself  to  have  lauded  on 
a  I'eniote  part  of  th(^  .Vsiatic  coutiuent,  he  had  the  less  hesitation  in  pronouncing 
I  hem  Indians.  Ivegarded  from  other  ])'iints  of  view  besides  their  features,  there  were 
concurrent  testimonies.  They  had  nnt,  indeed,  the  lixed  industry  of  the  prominent 
(•(last-tribes  (if  llindostan.  or  of  other  Asiatic  races.  Men^  hunters  and  lishernien, 
without  any  Imt  the  rudest  arts,  without  popnlais  towns,  and  roving  along  the 
shores  nearly  nude,  with  almost  the  same  alacrity  as  the  multiplied  species  of  the 
waters  and  forests,  they  hail  as  little  thought  of  lixity  of  location  nr  curtailment  of 
their  nomadic  lilxriv. 


OliJGhV,  TRADITIONS,  I'lIYSICAL  AND  MENTAL    TYPE. 


81 


Surprise  was  at  its  lici<,'lit  to  find  the  Curib  race,  with  whom  the  intercourso 
began,  sunk  so  low  in  the  scale  of  human  beiii;  ,  and  so  utterly  unfit  to  encounter 
even  the  lowest  tasks  of  civilization.  The  whole  Caribbean  region,  extending  north- 
ward to  Cuba,  and,  it  is  thought,  at  an  ancient  period  of  the  history  of  the  Leeward 
Island  group,  even  to  the  peninsula  of  Florida,'  was  found  to  be  overs])read  with  this 
divided  and  warring  race,  portions  of  whom  >vere  fierce  and  courageous.'' 

Viewed  in  cxlcnso,  the  race  api)ears  to  be  composed  of  the  fragments  of  various 
tribes  of  men,  Avho  bore,  however,  u  general  affinity  to  each  other.  With  some  small 
exceptions,  the  tribes  appear  to  be  parts  of  a  whole.  Most  of  their  languages  and 
dialects  are  manifestly  derivative.  While  varying  widely  among  themselves,  their 
languages  exhiljit  no  affinity  to  any  other,  and  form  an  absolutely  distinct  order 
of  speech.  AVhile  they  arc  transpositivc  and  polysyllabic,  they  are  i)hilosophically 
homogeneous  in  .syntax,  capable  of  the  most  exact  analysis  and  resolution  into  their 
original  and  simple  elements ;  and  while  some  of  them  impose  concords,  in  reference 
to  a  wild  aboriginal  principle  of  animate  and  inanimate  classes  of  nature,  they  are 
entirely  polysynthetic, — "  much-putting-together."  All  evidence  points  to  their  very 
great  antiquity  and  independent  evolution.^ 


TKADITIOXS  OF  THE   INDIANS   RESPECTING   TIIEIK  OKIGIN. 

What  may  be  regarded,  in  their  traditions  of  the  world,  their  origin,  and  their 
opinions  of  man,  as  entitled  to  attention,  is  this.  They  believe  in  a  supreme,  tran- 
scendent power  of  goodness,  or  Great  Merciful  Spirit,  by  whom  the  earth,  the  ani- 
mals, and  man  were  created ;  also  in  a  great  antagonistic  power,  who  can  disturb 
the  benevolent  jmrposes  of  the  other  power.  The  latter  they  call  the  Great  Evil 
Spirit.     The  belief  in  this  duality  of  gods  is  universal. 

They  relate,  generally,  that  there  was  a  deluge  at  an  ancient  epoch,  which  cov- 
ered the  earth  and  drowned  mankind,  except  a  limited  number.     They  speak  most 

'  Traces  of  aflinities  between  the  Curib  iiiiJ  tbo  Appniaehmn  exist  in  their  lanffnii^es.  Tlie  first  personal 
pronoun  Ne,  or  its  equivaloiit  X,  wliit'b  is  eoninnm  to  the  North  Anurican  lan^iia;^os,  and  also  the  pronominal 
sign  of  the  seconil  person,  K,  are  found  in  Davis's  "  Voeal)ulary  of  the  Carib  Laui^uajre,"  London,  IGliG. 

'  The  ("aribs  were  the  aneient  inhabitants  of  the  Windward  Islands.  Most  of  those  are  represented  to  bo 
oannilials,  who  earriod  on  fijrco  and  reloiitless  hostilities  a;.rainst  the  mild  and  inoffensive  inhabitants  of  Ilis- 
paniola.  The  insular  Caribs  are  eonjoetured  to  be  descendants  of  the  Oalibio  Indians  of  the  coast  of  ParanA 
in  South  America.  It  is  believed,  by  those  who  have  examined  the  subject,  that  this  hostility  towards  tlio 
t'aribs  of  the  larj.'cr  Leeward  Islands  is  founded  on  a  tradition  that  the  latter  are  descendants  of  a  colony  of 
Arrowauks,  a  nation  of  South  America  with  whom  the  contiiu'utal  Caribs  are  at  perpetual  war.  Columbus 
observed  an  abundances  of  cotton  cloth  used  for  garments  in  all  the  islands  he  visited.  Lepiu,  who  visited 
Harbadoes  in  KM",  speaks  of  the  pottery  as  bein^  of  an  excellent  kind.     Alcedo,  vol.  i.  p.  31(!. 

'  The  lan<:^aj;e  of  the  American  Indian  throws  no  light  upon  his  origin.  Gallatin,  Duponccau,  and  others, 
who  made  it  a  profound  sludy,  found  it  primitive  in  characler  and  differing  radically  from  the  languages  of 
other  |)co])les.  "No  theories  of  derivation  from  the  Old  World,"  says  Ilaydcn  ("  Arcliieology  of  the  United 
States," — Smithsonian  CuiitrilMilions,  p.  .IP.  "have  stood  the  test  of  graminalieal  construction.  All  traces 
of  the  fugitive  tribes  of  Israel  sujiposed  to  be  found  here  are  again  lost.  Neither  I'liaMiician,  nor  Iliiuloo, 
nor  Chinese,  nor  Welsh,  nor  Scandinavian  have  left  any  impression  of  their  national  syntax  behind  them." 


■ 


V 


82 


rilE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TIIIJ   UNITED  STATES. 


i'iii])liatii'ally  of  a  future  stale,  ami  appear  to  liavc  some  confused  idea  of  rewards  and 
puiiishiuents,  which  arc  allcgorically  rcjircsented. 

Tliey  regard  the  earth  as  their  eosinogdiiie  mother,  and  deehiru  their  origin  to 
have  been  in  eaves,  or  in  some  other  manner  witlun  its  ilepths.  The  leading  dogma 
of  tlieir  theology  is,  however,  that  a  future  state  is  destined  to  reward  them  for  evils 
endured  in  this;  and  that  tlie  fates  of  men  are  irrevocably  lixed,  and  cannot  be 
altered,  except,  it  may  be,  by  appi'als  to  tiieir  seers,  prophets,  or  jossakeeds,  which 
finally,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  stolidity  of  an  Indian's  death,  they  entirely  forget, 
or  appear  to  have  no  f'ailii  in. 

They  declare  themsi'lves  generally  to  be  aborigines.  Pure  fables,  or  allegories, 
arc  all  that  support  this.  By  one  authority,  they  climbed  up  the  roots  of  u  large 
vino  from  the  interior  to  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  by  another,  they  casually  saw 
light,  while  under  grouuvl,  from  the  top  of  a  cavern  in  the  earth.  In  one  way  or  an- 
other, most  of  tlie  tribes  plant  themselves  on  the  traditions  of  a  local  origin.  Seeing 
many  quailrnpeds  which  burrow  in  the  earth,  they  acknowledge  a  similar  and  mys- 
teri(ms  relation.  Tecumseh  aflirmed,  in  accordance  with  this  notioi\,  t'lat  the  earth 
was  his  mother;  and  Michabou  held  that  the  birds  and  beasts  were  his  brothers.  A 
few  of  the  tribes,  North  and  South,  have  something  of  a  traditional  value  to  add  to 
these  notions,  expressive  of  an  opinion  of  a  foreign  origin.  This,  as  gleaned  from 
various  authors,  will  bo  now  particularly  mentioned. 

These  ideas,  which  vary  greatly  in  diirercnt  tribes,  are  mingled  with  fables  and 
beliefs  of  the  grossest  absurdity.  The  attemjit  to  separate  tradition  from  mythologie 
belief,  in  the  chaos  of  Indian  intellect,  has  some  resemblance  to  the  attempt  of  a 
finite  hand  to  separate  light  from  darkness.  The  overflow  of  waters  on  the  earth 
having  bci'u  narrated, — an  event,  by  the  way,  which  tliey  attribute  to  the  Great  Evil 
Spirit, — their  traditions  skij)  over  thousands  of  years,  which  they  fill  up  as  an  epoch 
of  mythology.  In  this,  monsters,  giants,  s])irits,  genii,  gods,  and  demons  wield  their 
powers  against  each  other,  and  fill  the  world  with  cannibalism,  murders,  and  com- 
plicated fears  and  horrors.  The  Algonkin  Indians  indeed  say,  in  accordance  with 
geological  theory,  that  the  animals  at  first  had  the  rule  on  earth,  and  that  man 
came  in  as  a  later  creation. 

One  of  the  chief  features  of  this  epoch  of  monstrosities,  in  each  leading  family 
of  American  tribes,  is  the  tradition  of  some  great  hero,  giant-killer,  or  wise  bene- 
factor, whose  name  is  exalted  as  a  god,  and  to  whose  strength,  wisdom,  or  sagacity 
they  attribute  deliverance.  Such  are  Quet/alcoatl  among  the  Toltecs  and  Aztecs, 
Atahentsic,  Atatarho,  ami  Tiuenyawagon,  among  the  Inxpiois,  and  Micabo,  or  the 
(Ireat  Hare,  ])opularly  called  ]Manabozho,  among  the  Algonkins. 

Next  are  heard,  in  their  history  of  the  world,  accoinits,  variously  related,  of  the 
arrival  of  Europeans  on  the  coast,  about  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen.ury.  From 
that  era  to  the  present  day  is,  with  the  exceptions  below  recited,  the  j)eriod  of 
authentic  tradition.  Most  of  the  tribes  possess  traditions  of  the  first  appearance  of 
white  men  among  them,  and  some  of  them  name  the  place.  The  Lenni  Lenapes  and 
Mohicans  preserve  the  memory  of  the  appearance  and  voyage  of  Hudson  up  the 


ORIGIN,  TRADITIONS,  PHYSICAL  AND  MENTAL    TYPE. 


33 


river  bearing  his  name,  in  1009.  The  Iroquois  have  the  tradition  of  a  wreck,  appar- 
ently earlier,  on  the  southern  coast,  and  of  the  saving  and,  after  a  time,  the  extinc- 
tion in  blood  of  a  colony  then  founded.  Tliis  j)OH.sibly  may  be  the  lirst  colony  of 
Virginia,  in  1588.  The  Algonkins  have  a  tradition  of  Carticr's  visit  to  the  St. 
i^iiwrence  in  15;}4,  and  call  the  French,  to  thi.s  day.  People  of  the  Wooden  Vessel, 
or  Wa-mitig-oazh.  The  Chippewius  allirnied  (in  1824)  that  seven  generations  of  men 
had  passed  since  that  nation  lirst  came  into  the  lakes.* 

The  origin  of  man  is  variously  related.  By  the  Iroquois  traditions,  Atahentsic, 
the  mother  of  mankind,  was  cji«t  out  of  lieavcn,  and  received  on  the  ocean  of  chaos, 
on  the  back  of  a  turtle,  where  she  was  delivered  of  twin  sons.  Areasko  is  the  Iro- 
quois god  of  war.  In  Algonkin  mythology,  the  mother  of  Manabozho  fell  through 
the  moon  into  a  lake.  He  became  the  killer  of  monsters,  and  survived  a  deluge. 
His  brother,  Chebiabo,  is  the  keeper  of  the  land  of  the  dead.  Pauguk  is  a  skele- 
ton, who  hunts  men  with  a  bow  and  arrows.  Weeng  is  the  spirit  of  somnolency. 
He  lias  myriads  of  tiny  invisible  aids,  resembling  gnomes,  who,  armed  with  war- 
clubs,  creep  up  to  the  foreheads  of  men  and  by  their  blows  compel  sleep.  liigoo 
represents  the  cla.ss  of  Munchausen  story-tellers.  Each  of  the  cardinal  points  is 
l)resided  over  by  a  mythological  personage.  Kabaun  governs  the  west ;  Waban,  the 
east ;  Shawano,  the  south,  etc.  Many  of  the  jilancts  are  transformed  adventurers. 
An  animal  of  the  weasel  family  in  the  north  sprang  from  a  high  mountain  into 
heaven  and  let  out  the  genial  summer  atmosphere.  The  Thunderers  are  a  reverend 
body  of  warriors,  armed  with  long  spears,  arrows,  and  shields.  Winter,  spring, 
summer,  and  autunm  are  personilied.  Transformations  are  the  poetic  machinery 
of  the  wigwam  stories.  Ovid  is  hardly  more  prolific  in  his  changes  of  men  into 
animals,  plants,  and  transformations  of  one  class  of  objects  into  another.  It  is  by 
these  creations,  spiritualities,  personifications,  symbols,  and  allegories  that  the  lan- 
guage becomes  capable  of  expressing  conceptions  of  fictitious  creations,  which  cover 
the  whole  panorama  of  hills,  plains,  and  mountains,  and  fill  the  wide  forests  with 
imaginary  beings. 

Three  or  four  of  the  chief  stocks  now  between  the  equinox  and  the  Arctic  circle 
have  preserved  traditions  which  it  is  deemed  proper  to  recite. 

In  the  voyages  of  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie  among  the  Arctic  tribes,  he  relates 
of  the  Chepewyans,  that  "  they  have  a  tradition  that  they  originally  came  from 
another  country,  inhabited  by  very  wicked  people,  and  had  traversed  a  great  lake, 
which  was  narrow  and  shallow  and  full  of  islands,  where  they  had  suffered  great 
misery,  it  being  always  winter,  with  ice  and  deep  snow."  In  a  subsequent  passage, 
p.  1)87,  he  remarks,  "  Their  progress  [the  great  Athabascan  family]  is  easterly,  and, 
according  to  their  own  tradition,  they  came  from  Siberia,  agreeing  in  dress  and 
manners  with  the  people  now  found  upon  the  coasts  of  Asia." 

The  Shawanoes,  an  Algonkin  tribe,  have  a  tradition  of  a  foreign  origin,  or  a 


II 


'  If  ICOS,  i1h>  pcriiiil  of  the  settloiiiont  of  Cunada,  bo  taken  as  the  cm,  auJ  thirty  years  be  allowed  to  a 
generation,  this  is  u  remarkable  instance  of  accuracy  of  computation. 

5 


34 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


liuulin;r  from  ii  Hca-voyiigo.  John  JoliiiHtoii,  En(\.,  who  wiih  for  nitiny  yeiira  their 
Hgont,  prior  to  IH'JO,  ohscrvoH,  in  ii  letter  of  .Inly  7,  l.Sl!>,  imldinheil  in  the  first 
volnmo  of  "  Areiiiuoioj^iii  Anierieanii,"  p.  'J?:!,  tiiat  tlu-y  niif^riited  from  West  Floriihi, 
und  piirtH  mljaeent,  to  Oliio  and  Indiana,  where  thin  tribe  waH  tlien  located. 

"The  peojth)  of  thin  nation,"  lie  ohnervcH,  "have  a  tradition  that  their  aneestorH 
erossed  the  Hea.  They  are  the  only  trihe  with  which  1  am  acipniinted  who  admit  a 
foi^'i^n  orif^in.  Until  lately,  they  kept  yearly  sacriliccH  for  their  nafe  arrival  in  this 
coinitry.  Where  they  came  from,  or  at  what  period  they  arrived  in  America,  they 
do  not  know.  It  in  a  ])rcvailin^  opinion  amon^  tlieni  that  Florida  iuul  been  inhab- 
ited by  white  people,  who  had  the  use  of  iron  tools.  JMackhoof  (a  celebrated  chief) 
allirms  that  he  has  often  heard  it  spoken  of  by  old  people,  that  stumps  of  trees,  cov- 
ered with  earth,  were  frocjnently  found,  which  had  been  cut  down  by  edged  tools." 

At  a  Kubse(juent  page  he  says,  "  It  is  Homewhat  doubtful  whether  the  deliverance 
which  they  celebrate  luis  any  other  reference  than  to  the  crossing  of  some  great 
river,  or  an  arm  of  the  sea." 

The  Chippewan  relate  tlie  following  oral  tradition  of  the  creation  of  this  con- 
tinent and  of  the  Indian  tribes.  They  call  the  continent  a  little  island, — namely, 
Jllinnim} 

When  tlio  Good  Spirit  created  this  island,  it  was  a  ]ierfeet  i)lain,  void  of  any 
trees  or  shrubs:  he  first  created  the  Indian  man, and  then  the  Indian  woman.  They 
mnltijilied,  auil  when  they  inimbered  about  ten  persons  living,  death  was  known  to 
come  in  the  midst  of  them.  The  first  man  that  was  created  lamented  his  fate:  he 
went  to  and  fro  over  tlie  earth,  and,  addressing  himself  to  the  author  of  his  being, 
said,  "  Wniy  did  the  Good  Spirit  create  me,  that  I  should  so  soon  know  deatli,  weak- 
ness, and  frailty?"  The  (Jood  Spirit  from  on  high  heard  the;  man  lamenting  his 
condition.  Touched  by  the  appeal,  he  commanded  his  angels,  or  those  beings  whom 
he  had  created  in  heaven,  to  assemble  to  a  great  council.  The  Good  Spirit,  address- 
ing himself  to  his  conclave  of  counsellors,  said,  "What  shall  we  do  to  better  the  con- 
dition of  man?  for  I  have  created  him  frail  and  weak."  The  host  of  assembled 
angels  answered  and  said,  "()(}ood  Spirit,  tliou  hast  formed  and  created  us,  and 
thou  art  sclf-exi*' lit,  knowing  all  things,  and  thou  alone  knowest  what  is  best  for 
thy  creatures." 

The  consultation  busted  six  days;  and  during  this  tiiiiv;  not  a  breath  of  wind 
blew  to  disturb  the  surface  of  the  waters:  this  calm  is  now  called  Unwatlij  by  the 
Indians.  On  the  seventh  day,  not  a  cloud  was  to  be  seen,  the  sky  was  blue  and 
serene;  this  is  now  called  Xdf/rrz/iif/  by  them. 

The  Good  Spirit,  having  consulted  his  angels  during  six  days,  on  the  seventh 
day  sent  down  a  messenger  to  the  Indian,  placing  in  his  right  bosom  a  piece  of  white 
hare-skin,  and  in  his  left  part  of  the  lieail  of  the  white-headed  eagle;  the  bare-skin, 
and  the  part  of  the  head  of  the  bald-headed  eagle,  were  painted  blue,  representing 
a  blue  sky, — the  symbol  of  peace,  observed  on  the  six  days'  consultation  in  heaven. 


'  The  cedilla  to  the  terminal  a  in  this  word  is  intended  to  earry  the  inflectinn  mice. 


ORiaiN,  Th'AD/rWAS,  I'HYSIVAL  AND   MKNTAL    Tyi'H. 


;w 


The  iriL'HMfiij^cr  wiw  (lirccU'd  to  tell  llit;  iimii  wlio  laiiu'iitcd,  thiit  his  worclH  wt-re  heard, 
mid  that  tiicy  had  coiiui  iH-foro  tius  (lood  Spirit;  thiit  ho  wiw  tlic  im-HHi'iigcr  of  glad 
tidiiigH  to  iiiiii,  and  that  lio  inuHt  I'oiduriii  hiiiiHclf  ntrictly  to  tlu;  (jooil  Hpirit'h 
foinriiaiidim'iitH;  that  he  liad  hnnight  a  pitcc  of  white  haic-Hkiii  aii<l  i)art  of  a  white 
eagle's  head,  which  they  imiHt  ii.s((  in  their  Aledawi  (or  Ciraiid  Medieine  Feaat), — 


ar<d  whutrioever  tjiey  Bhoidd  awk  ou  thoHO  occiwioiiH  would  bo  granted  to  thoni,  and  a 
prolongation  of  life  would  hv  giv«'n  to  tho  nick.  The  niesseng.'r  al.so  prenontetl  the 
Indian  a  white  otter-skin,  painted  on  tho  haok  of  tin*  head  with  a  blue  ntripe,  tho 
paint  used  being,  in  fact,  a  pieec;  of  tho  bhu!  Hky  whieh  appeared  so  beautiful  in 
their  eyes.  (Tho  blue  earth  nowadays  used  as  a  i)aint  on  pipes,  j)ouches,  and  other 
cherished  articles  is  typical  of  peace  aiul  kindness.)  Tho  messenger  held  in  his 
hands  a  bunch  of  white  llowers  and  plants,  and  said,  "  This  will  bo  a  niodicino  for 
tho  healing  of  your  wickiu's-sos ;  I  havo  boon  dirooted  to  Hoattor  it  over  all  the  earth, 
so  that  it  nuiy  be  readily  found  when  tho  Indian  ueodH  it,"  soattoring  it  over  tho  earth 
iM  ho  spoke. 

At  this  time,  a  very  large  treo  wa.s  sent  down  from  heaven,  and  planted  in  the 
midst  of  tho  islaiul ;  ita  roots,  which  wore  very  largo,  extended  to  the  extremity  of 
the  earth,  east  and  west,  so  that  tho  winds  could  not  root  it  up;  on  the  east  wide  of  it 
a  blue  mark  was  set,  representing  tho  blue  stripe  of  the  sky.  Tho  messenger  in- 
structed th(!  Indians  how  to  make  use  of  its  bark  as  a  mixture  with  other  medicinal 
herbs  and  roots,  cautioning  them  always  to  take  it  from  the  oast  side. 

Tho  next  testimony  is  from  Mexico.  Montezuma  told  Cortez  of  a  foreign  con- 
nection between  tho  A/tec  race  and  tho  nations  of  the  Old  World. 

Thi.s  tradition,  as  preserved  by  Don  Antonio  SolLs,  led  that  monarch  to  assure 
tho  con(|uer()r  of  a  relationship  to  the  Spanish  crown,  in  tho  lino  of  sovereigns. 

His  speecli  is  this:  "J  would  have  you  to  understand,  before  you  begin  your  dis- 
course, that  we  are  not  ignorant,  or  stand  in  need  of  your  persuasions  to  believe,  that 
the  groat  prince  you  obey  is  descended  from  our  ancient  Quetzalcoatl,  Lord  of  tho 
Seven  Caves  of  the  Xdrittldijiicn,  and  lawful  king  of  tlutse  seven  tuitions  which  gave 
beginning  to  our  Mexican  empire.  l>y  one  of  his  i)rophecics,  which  we  receive  as 
an  infallible  truth,  and  by  a  tradition  of  many  ages,  preserved  in  our  aniuils,  we 
know  that  ho  departed  from  these  countries  to  eontpier  new  regions  in  the  East, 
leaving  a  promise  that,  in  process  of  i'niw,  his  descendants  should  return  to  model 
our  laws  and  mend  (air  goscrnnient." 

The  tradition  of  the  origin  of  tho  Mi-xican  empire  in  bands  of  adventurers  from 
tiie  Seveti  ("aves  rests  upon  the  best  authority  wo  havo  of  tho  Toltoc  race,  supported 
by  tho  oral  opinion  of  the  Aztecs  in  I.")!!*.  An  examination  of  it  by  tho  lights  of 
modern  geography,  in  connection  with  the  nautical  theory  of  oceanic  currents  and 
tho  fixed  courses  of  the  winds  in  tho  Pacific,  gives  strong  testimony  in  favor  of  an 
early  expressed  opinion  in  support  of  a  migration  in  high  latitudes.  It  is  now  con- 
sidered probable  that  those  caves  were  seated  in  the  Aleutian  chain.  This  chain  of 
islands  connects  tlu'  continents  of  Asia  and  America  at  the  most  i)racticablo  })oints ; 
and  it  begins  precis"ly  ojiposite  to  that  part  of  the  Asiatic  coast  northeast  of  the 


i-m 


86 


TllK  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Chinese  empire,  aiul  quite  above  the  Japanese  group,  where  we  sliouKl  expect  the 
!Mongolic  and  Tartar  hortlos  to  have  been  precipitated  upon  those  shores.  On  the 
American  side  of  the  trajot,  oxtcn(Hng  south  of  tlie  peninsuhi  of  Onahisca,  there  is 
evidence,  in  the  existing  diak'cts  of  the  tribes,  of  their  being  of  the  same  generic 
group  with  the  Tohcc  stock.  By  tlie  data  brought  to  light  by  JMr.  Ilalo,  the  ethnog- 
rapher to  the  Ui\ited  States  Exploring  Expedition  under  Captain  Wilkes,  and  from 
other  reliable  sources,  the  philological  proof  is  made  quite  apjiarent.  The  peculiar 
Aztec  termination  of  substantives  in  tl,  which  was  noticed  at  Nootka  Sound,  is  too 
indicative,  in  connection  with  other  resemblances  in  sound  and  in  the  principles  of 
construction,  noticed  by  Mr.  Ilale,  to  be  disregarded. 

In  seeking  the  facts  of  modern  geography  and  nautical  science  on  the  jirobability 
of  such  an  origin  for  the  Indian  population  of  Central  and  Mexican  North  America, 
— not  the  tribes  of  the  Andes, — the  observations  accumulated  on  the  meteorology  find 
currents  of  the  Pacific  and  Indian  seas,  at  the  National  Observatory,  have  furnished 
a  new  point  of  light.  Ijieutenant-Colonel  Charles  Hamilton  Smith,  of  Edinburgh, 
author  of  a  treatise  on  the  Natural  History  of  the  Ilunuui  Species,  apjx-ars  to  have 
been  the  first  observer  to  tiirow  out  the  idea  of  the  C'hichimocs,  a  rude  Mexican 
people  of  the  Toltecan  lineage,  having  migrated  from  this  quarter,  taking,  however, 
the  word  "caves"  to  be  a  figure  denotirg  a  vessel,  catamaran,  or  canoe,  and  not 
emjiloying  it  in  a  literal  sense. 

Lieutenant  M.  F.  !Maury,  U.S.N.,  says,  referring  to  the  Chichimec  legend  of  the 
"  Seven  Caves,"  that  the  Chichimecs  might  originally  have  been  Aleutians,  and  that 
"  caves,"  if  not  denoting  islands,  might  have  referred  to  canoes.  He  al.so  says  that 
"the  Aleutians  of  the  present  day  actually  live  in  caves  or  subterranean  apartments, 
which  they  enter  tiirough  a  hole  in  the  top."  In  his  opinion,  the  I'acific  and  Poly- 
nesian waters  could  have  been  navigated  in  early  times,  supposing  the  Avinds  had 
then  been  as  the^'  now  ''re,  in  balsa.'^,  floats,  and  other  rude  vessels  of  early  ages,  and, 
furthermore,  that  when  we  take  into  conslleration  the  position  of  North  America 
with  regard  to  Asia,  of  New  Holland  witii  rigard  to  Africa,  with  the  winds  and 
currents  of  the  ocean,  it  would  have  been  more  remarkable  that  i^  merica  should  not 
have  been  peopled  from  Asia,  or  New  Holland  from  Africa,  than  that  they  should 
have  been. 


PHYSICAL   TKAITS. 


In  whatever  else  the  tribes  differ,  or  however  they  have  been  developed  in  tribal 
or  national  distinctions,  it  is  in  their  physiology  and  the  general  structure  of  mind 
and  thought  that  they  most  closely  coincide.  Indians  seen  on  the  Orinoco,  the  Kio 
Grande,  and  the  Mississippi  present  a  set  of  features  and  characteristics  ri-markably 
alike.  From  Patagonia  to  Athabasca,  ai>(l  oven  to  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
there  is  a  coincidence  which  has  been  the  subject  of  general  remark.  Such  is  this 
coincidence,  observes  a  recent  physiologist,  whose  attention  has  been  particularly 
directed  to  this  subject,  that  wlioever  has  seen  one  of  the  tril)es  has  seen  all.  It 
is  not  the  traits  of  the  man  of  the  Indus  or  the  Gand)ia, — not  Hindostant^e,  Chinese, 


ORIGIN,  TRADITIONS,  PHYSICAL  AND  MENTAL    TYPE. 


37 


Tartar,  or  Japanese, — not  even  the  segregated  yet  resembling  races  of  tlie  Pacific 
and  the  isles  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  however  approximating  in  some  of  their  physical 
traits, — that  we  behold.  There  is  something  more  fixed,  more  liomogeneous,  more 
indigenous,  more  ethnic,  than  these  recited  varieties  of  the  human  race  present. 

On  the  discovery  of  the  race,  as  represented  by  the  Caribs  of  the  West  Indies,  in 
1402,  Columbus  was  so  struck  Avith  the  general  resemblance  of  their  pl)ysiological 
traits  to  those  of  the  East  Indians,  or  Hindoos,  that  he  at  once  called  them  In- 
dianos.  All  subsequent  observers  in  that  area  have  concurred  generally  with  him 
in  this  respect.  Such  haj  also  been  the  observation  in  Nortu  America.  Ninety-two 
years  after  the  discovery,  that  is,  in  1584,  when  the  first  ships  sent  ou^  by  Sir  Walter 
Ilaleigh,  under  his  commission  from  Queen  Elizabeth,  reached  the  Virginia  coasts, 
they  landed  among  a  generic  family  of  the  red  men,  difl'erii.g  in  language  ■wholly 
from  the  Caribs,  but  whoso  physical  type  was  nevertheless  essentially  the  same.  The 
stock  family  found  in  Virginia  has  since  become  very  well  known  to  us  under  the 
generic  cognomen  of  Algonkins.  Wherever  examined,  betv  een  the  original  landings 
at  Occoquan  anil  lloanoko  and  the  south  capes  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  they  have 
revealed  the  same  general  physiology.  The  most  iraportant  and  uniform  physical 
traits  of  the  Indian  are, — 

The  hair  coarse,  black,  glossy,  and  long,  but  alwrys  straight,  never  wavy ;  beard 
scanty ; 

Eyes  small  and  black,  somewhat  deep-set,  always  horizontal ; 

Eyebrows  narrow,  arched,  and  black ;  skin  thinner,  softer,  and  smoother  than  in 
the  white  races ; 

Cheek-bones  and  nose  prominent,  the  latter  often  long  and  aquiline ; 

Color  copper  or  cinnamon-brown,  except  the  Seminoles,  who  are  olive-brown, 
and  the  Mandans  of  Missouri,  who  are  fair  or  whitish. 

Two  qualities  are  common  to  all  these  manifold  varieties, — viz.,  black  liair  and 
polysynthetic  speech.  Fulness  or  lankness  of  muscle,  height  or  shortness  of  stature, 
and  weakness  or  vigor  of  vitality  may  be  considered  as  the  effects  of  peculiarities  of 
food  and  climate.  But  the  traits  that  preside  over  and  give  character  to  the  muscular 
mass  show  themselves  iis  clearly  in  the  well-fed  Osage  and  Dakota  and  the  stately 
Algonkin  as  in  the  fish-  and  rabbit-fed  Gem  do  Tcrre  (Muskigo)  on  the  confines  of 
Canada,  or  in  the  root-eating  Shoshone  of  the  liocky  ^fountain.  ' 

As  a  race,  there  never  wius  one  more  impracticable;  nure  bent  on  a  nameless 
principle  o{  trlhality;  more  averse  to  combinati(>ns  for  their  general  good;  more 
deaf  to  the  voice  of  instruction.     They  ai)pear  on  this  continent  to  have  trampled 


'  Ii.  11  series  of  oxpcrimonts  ili'votod  to  the  liuir,  m;iile  willi  the  niieroscope,  Mi.  IVt'-r  A.  Browne,  of 
Philiidelphiii,  li;w  ilemotistnuod  three  |iriiii;ir_v  speeies  of  the  h;iir  am!  liairy  ti.ssue,  or  wool,  of  the  huinnii 
head,  as  shown  by  the  researehe^  respeetini;  the  .\n-h)  Saxon,  Indian,  and  Ne<;ro  races.  The.se  experiments, 
which  appear  to  iiave  been  eondnetod  with  S(ienli(ie  and  pliilosophieul  care,  denote  the  strnetn'-e  and  or^'ani- 
zation  of  each  of  these  species  to  hu  peenliar.  They  are  (h'noniinated,  in  the  order  above  stated,  (NJindrieal 
or  round,  oval,  and  eccentrically  elliptical  or  Hat.  Tlio  Indian  hair  empl.iud  in  these  experinunt.s  was  the 
Chuctaw. 


I 


38 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


on  monumental  ruins,  some  of  which  hud  their  oi';^in  before  their  arrival,  or  without 
their  participation  ;^s  builders.  They  have  in  the  Xorth  no  temples  for  worship,  and 
live  ill  a  wild  belief  of  tlic  ancient  theory  of  a  demiurgus,  or  Soul  of  the  Universe, 
which  inhabits  and  animates  everything. 

]3ut,  whatever  their  origin,  when  first  observed  the  Indians  presented  all  the 
leading  traits  and  characteristics  of  the  present  day.  Of  all  races  on  tlie  face  of  the 
earth,  in  features,  manners,  and  customs  they  have  apparently  changed  the  least, 
preserving  their  physical  and  mental  tyjjo  with  the  fewest  alterations.  TJiey  con- 
tinue to  reproduce  themselves,  as  a  race,  even  where  their  manners  arc  comparatively 
polished  and  their  intellects  enliglitcncd,  as  if  they  were  bound  by  the  iron  fetters  of 
an  unchanging  type.  In  this  unvarying  and  indomitable  indivi(hiality,  and  in  their 
fixity  of  opinion  and  general  idiosyncrasy,  they  certainly  remind  the  reader  of 
Oriental  races, — of  the  Semitic  family  of  man. 


MEXTAL   TKAITS. 

The  piiysical  type  is  thus  seen  to  be  permanent.  Nor  is  there  much  to  favor  the 
idea  of  the  organization  of  a  new  mental  germ.  The  same  indestructibility  of  type, 
the  same  nou-progressiveness  of  the  Indian  Oriental  mind,  is  perceived  in  the  race  in 
every  part  of  this  continent.  The  Indian  mind  appears  to  have  no  intellectual  pro- 
pulsion, no  analytic  tendencies.     It  reproduces  the  same  ideas  in  1880  as  in  14'J2. 

The  scope  of  thought  of  the  Indian  tribes,  when  they  stand  forth  to  utter  their 
sentiments  and  opinions  in  public,  is  more  elevated  and  high-minded  and  evinces 
more  readiness  of  expression  tlian  is  generally  found  among  the  lower  uneducated 
classes  of  civilized  nations.  The  talent  for  sj)eaking  is  earnestly  cherished.  One  is 
often  surprised  by  the  noble  style  of  tlieir  thoughts,  and  their  capacity  to  rise  above 
selfishness  and  assu.ne  a  higli,  heroic  attitude.  It  is  dillicult  sometimes  for  the 
interpreters  to  follow  or  understand  these  veins  of  lofty  thought  and  do  ju.stice  to 
the  aboriginal  oratory.  If  these  lliglits  are  not  always  sustained,  it  may  be  said  tliat 
they  are  sometimes  so;  and  we  nnist  judge  the  Indian,  as  we  do  civilizeil  nations,  by 
their  best  examples.  That  a  peoph'  who  are  often  depressed,  so  as  to  be  put  to  their 
wits'  end  for  means  of  bubsistenee,  slK)ukl  rise  to  elevation  of  tiiought  at  all,  is 
su";  rising. 

The  hunter  mind  is  so  deeply  faseinatiMl  with  its  ideal  of  freedom  that  it  seeks 
occasion  to  burst  tiirough  tlu  fetters  imposed  by  t'le  irksome  pressure  of  civilization  ; 
and,  as  a  relief,  it  gives  vent  to  these  bold  and  free  ilaslics  of  tluaight.  Tlieir  forms 
of  laiigiiiige  Avoiild  appear  to  be  too  iinrrow  to  permit  tliis,  were  it  not  that  the 
purposes  u*'  generalization  are  etlected  by  bold  and  striking  metaphors,  which  are 
often  violent  indeed,  but  sometimes  surpassingly  sinii'le  and  appropriate.  "1  stand 
in  the  path,"  tlie  exelaiiiatioii  of  I'oiitiac  to  tlie  eon  niiinder  of  a  Hritisli  force  iiiarclied 
into  his  country  in  \~i\'-\,  is  a  meta])lior,  di'iioting  imperial  sway  in  the  West,  worthy 
of  Napoleon  in  the  palmiest  days  of  his  wonderful  career,  while  putting  his  feet  on 
the  necks  of  the  kings  and  emper  trs  of  Kiirope.      It  is  worthy  of  note  that  tln'  best 


ORIGIN,  TRADITIONS,  PHYSICAL  AND  MENTAL    TYRE. 


39 


instances  of  their  intellectual  vigor  were  not  found  in  the  elevated  table-lands  and 
heights  of  Auahuac,  Caxamarca,  and  Cuzco,  on  the  .slope  of  the  Andes,  but  among 
the  free  forest  tribes  who  wielded  the  bow  and  arrow  in  North  America. 

Struck  by  the  bold  and  manly  bearing  of  the  Indian  sachems,  and  their  ready 
powers  of  oratory,  the  French  missionaries  to  New  France  sent  back  the  most  glow- 
ing accounts  of  the  natural  capacity  of  this  people. 

Lafitau  says.  "  They  are  possessed  of  sound  judgment,  lively  imagination,  ready 
conception,  and  wonderful  memory  ;"  and  that  "  they  are  high-minded  and  proud ; 
jiossci^s  a  courage  equal  to  every  trial ;  an  intrepid  valor,  and  the  most  heroic  con- 
stancy under  torments ;  and  an  equanimity  which  neither  misfortune  nor  reverses 
can  shake." 

Charlevoix  remarks,  "  The  beauty  of  their  imagination  equals  its  vivacity,  which 
appears  in  all  their  discourse :  they  are  very  quick  at  repartee,  and  their  harangues 
are  full  of  shining  pas.sages,  which  would  have  been  applauded  at  Rome  or  Athens. 
Their  eloquence  ha«  a  strength,  nature,  and  pathos  which  no  art  can  give,  and  which 
the  Greeks  admired  in  the  barbarians," 

Similar  testimony  is  jxjiresscd  by  n'.merous  other  foreign  writers  of  early  periods, 
all  of  whom,  with  the  exception  of  JJuffon  and  De  Pauw,  concur  in  the  position  that 
the  Indian  mind  possesses  great  vigor  and  strong  powers  of  jierception,  eloquence, 
and  imagination.  American  writers  have  approached  the  subject  with  more  sol)or- 
ness  of  apprehension,  and  with  a  perpetual  recollection,  it  would  seem,  of  the  Indian's 
general  defects  of  induction,  forecast,  and  stability  of  character.  The  aborigines 
are  perceived  to  possess  an  imagination  of  a  peculiar,  apparently  a  veiy  ancient  and 
Oriental,  cast;  but  their  powers  of  oratory  cannot  be  taken  as  a  mciusure  of  their 
capacity  for  meeting  the  practical  questions  of  life.  To  think  closely  and  consecu- 
tively, to  plan  well,  and  to  execute  with  firmness  and  i)erseverance,  are  the  character- 
istics of  the  human  mind  in  a  high  state  of  civilization.  Their  natural  eloquence 
has  commanded  general  admiration,  as  possessing  some  of  the  very  highest  elements. 
Thoiipht  lias  seldom  been  brouglit  home  to  human  actions  more  forcibly  tiian  it  is 
seen  ',u  -■' mv,  of  their  more  celebrated  harangues  and  oratorical  efforts.  Mr.  Jefler- 
so:  iin  ''i^  r-,  us  a  most  remarkable  instance  of  their  oratorical  ])owers  in  his  "Notes 
on   '.  '■    I'.iii  "' 

'i  lie  H  ./ci  of  enumeration  in  the  United  States  tribes  has  been  deemed,  from  the 
earliest  Vir,-:'.,;i.s,  to  be  very  low.    By  recent  inquiry  it  is  seen,  however,  that  they  are 


'  The  fpcts  cntitT  'T.d  with  tho  speech  of  Logan  arc  so  fully  and  elaborately  con.sidered  in  a  discourse 
(li'livi'rcd  before  tlu-  .^l,ll  \  land  Ili.storieal  Society,  Dth  May,  1851,  by  Brantz  Mayer,  Ksi(.,  an  to  le.ivp  nothing 
more  to  be  said  on  the  subject.  It  is  clearly  k1  own,  by  the  testimony  of  General  O.  U.  Clarke,  that  Logan 
was  mistaken  in  a.s,serting  that  the  murder  of  his  family  '.as  perpetrated  by  Captain  Michael  Cre.sap.  It  was 
tho  net  of  one  Daiiiil  (ireallioiise,  ut  a  time  when  Captain  Cresap  wa.s  at  another  point  on  the  Ohio;  the 
latter,  on  hearing  of  this  cruel  and  perfidious  act,  expressed  bis  utter  abhorrence  (d'  it.  Cresap  was  truly  a 
i!.:in  whose  name  and  fame  had  rendered  him  an  olijeet  of  fear  and  respect  on  the  part  of  the  Western 
!ridi".'>;  but  ho  wus  us  humane  as  he  was  politic  and  brave,  and  his  patriotism  and  military  services  were 
c  ic.i    t-  •oil    in  tile  cause  of  American  indi'pendcnce. 


:-ll 


111 


m 


!l 


40 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


by  no  means  deficient.  They  generally  reveal  a  decimal  sj'stem  having  original 
names  for  the  digits  to  10.  Tliey  then  repeat  these  names,  with  a  conjunction 
thrown  between  them,  till  20,  for  which  there  is  a  separate  inflection  to  the  decimal, 
and  this  intlection  is  added  to  the  primary  particle  for  numbers  till  100,  for  which 
there  is  a  separate  denomination.  By  awaicing  the  latent  powers  of  computation, 
most  of  the  tribes,  and  all  tlie  instanced  ones,  it  is  believed,  are  found  capable  of  de- 
noting high  numbers.  Inquiries  made  of  the  Choctaws  i)rove  that  they  can  compute, 
by  doubling  their  denominators,  or  by  new  inflections,  to  1,000,000,(XX);  the  Dako- 
tas,  to  the  same;  the  Cherokees,  to  300,000,000;  the  Chippewas,  to  1,(XX),000,000; 
the  A\  inncbagoes,  the  same;  the  Wyandots,  to  ;},000,0(X);  the  liitehites,  to  but 
1000;  the  Pillagers,  to  100,000;  the  Camanches,  to  but  30,  etc. ;  and  even  the  wild 
and  predatory  Yumas  have  the  decimal  system. 

To  ascertain  whether  the  Indian  mind  and  character  exhibit  a  type  of  race 
which  may  bo  deemed  peculiar,  it  'I  '  "  'ocessary  to  examine  their  religious  and 
jxsychological  notions   and  dogmas,  t  ythology,  and  their   conceptions  of  a 

Deity,  and,  if  their  traits,  opinions,  and  isyncrasies  be  indigenous  or  American, 
to  inquire  in  what  their  original  conceptions  of  art  or  science,  religion  or  opinion, 
consist.  In  the  Toltecan  group,  a  calendar  and  system  of  a«irononiy  and  a  style  of 
architecture  are  found  which  are  eminently  calculated  to  arrest  attention.  More 
than  all,  the  tribes  over  the  whole  continent  possess  a  class  of  languages  which  by 
their  principles  of  grammatical  construction,  though  running  through  great  changes, 
vindicate  claims  to  philosophical  stmly. 

Nothing  is  more  notorious  than  the  former  prevalence  of  sun-worship  among  the 
Peruvian  and  .Mexican  tribes;  where,  however,  it  was  mixed  with  the  practice  of 
human  sacrifices  and  tlu^  grossest  rites.  The  Aztecs  made  oflerings  to  the  sun  upon 
the  highest  teocalli,  and  sung  hymns  to  it.  Hacred  fire  was  supplied  alone  by  the 
priesthood,  and  it  was  the  foundation  of  their  j)ower. 

North  of  the  (lulf  of  ^Icxico  the  d'K'triiie  prevailed  with  more  of  it.s  original 
Oriental  sim|)licity,  and  free  from  the  horrid  rites  which  had  marked  it  in  the  valley 
of  Anahuac  and  among  the  spurs  of  the  Andes. 

The  tribes  of  the  pri'seiit  area  of  the  United  States  would  admit  of  no  temjdes,  but 
made  tiieir  sacred  iires  in  the  recesses  of  the  forest.  They  sung  hymns  to  the  sun  as 
the  symbol  of  the  (Jreat  Spirit.  Such  is  their  present  practice  in  the  forests.  They 
were  guilty,  it  is  true,  at  all  jieriods  of  their  hi.story,  of  shocking  cruelties  to  prisoners 
taken  in  war,  but  they  never  ollered  tiicm  as  sacrifices  to  the  Deity. 

They  never  use  common  fire  for  uncommon  purposes.  Sacreil  fire  is  obtained 
on  ceremonial  occasions  by  percussion ;  most  commonly  with  tiie  flint.'  Opwaguns, 
or  pipes,  with  the  incense  of  tobacco,  are  thus  lighted  whenever  the  business  in 
hand  is  national  in  character,  or  relates  to  their  secret  .«ocieties.  This  object,  so 
lighted,  is  first  offered  l)y  gt'nuflections  to  the  four  cardinal  points  and  the  zenith. 


'  Tlip  Iroquois  used  an  apparatus  for  giving  voloL'it3'  to  a  turninj;  uprij,'lit  stick  on  a  basis  of  wood,  called 
Dii-ya-yii  dii-i;a-noat-lia. 


ORIGIN,  TRADITIONS,  PHYSICAL  AND  MENTAL    TYPE. 


41 


It  is  then  handed  by  the  master  of  ceremonies  to  the  chiefs  and  public  functionaries 
present,  who  are  each  expected  to  draw  a  few  whifl's  ceremonially.  Sir  Alexander 
Mackenzie  hat'  well  described  this  ceremony  at  page  'J7  of  Ins  "Voyages." 

In  tliis  priiaitive  practice  of  having  no  temples  for  their  worship,  obtaining  their 
sacred  fire  for  ceremonial  occasions  by  percussion,  and  keeping  their  worship  up  to 
its  simple  standard  of  a  sort  of  transcendentalism,  as  taught  by  the  Oriental  nations 
to  whom  we  have  referred,  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  United  States  indicate  their 
claims  to  a  greater  antiquity  than  those  of  the  southern  part  of  the  continent.  They 
appear  to  have  been  j^ushed  from  tJieir  first  jjositions  by  tribes  of  grosser  rites  and 
manners. 

"  The  disciples  of  Zoroaster,"  says  Herodotus,  "  reject  the  use  of  temples,  of  altars, 
and  of  statues,  and  smile  at  the  folly  of  those  nations  who  imagine  that  the  gods  are 
sprung  from,  or  bear  any  affinity  with,  the  human  nature.  The  tops  of  the  highest 
mountains  are  the  places  chosen  for  their  sacrifices.  Hymns  and  prayers  are  the 
l)rincipal  worship.  The  Supreme  God,  who  fills  the  wide  arch  of  heaven,  is  the 
object  to  which  they  are  addressed." 

Let  us  take  another  of  their  dogmas,  and  try  whether  it  hiis  the  character  of  an 
original  or  derivative  belief.  We  allude  to  the  two  principles  of  good  and  evil,  for 
which  the  Iroquois  have  the  names  of  Inigorio,  the  good  "lind,  and  Inigoliahetgea, 
or  the  evil  mind.  (See  Cusic's  "  Ancient  History  of  the  Six  Nations ;"  also  the 
Wyandot  tradition  of  Oriwahcnto.)  This  is  one  of  the  earliest  Oriental  beliefs.  It 
was  one  of  tlie  leading  dognnis  of  Zoroaster.  Goodness,  according  to  this  philosopher, 
is  absorbed  in  light ;  evil  is  buried  in  darkness.  Ormuzd  is  the  principle  of  benevo- 
lence, true  wisdom,  and  ha])piness  to  men.  Ahriman  is  the  •lathor  of  malevolence 
and  discord.  By  his  malice  he  has  long  j)ierced  the  egg  of  Ormuzd, — in  other  words, 
has  violated  the  harmony  of  the  works  of  creation. 

The  North  American  tribes  of  our  latitudes  appeir  to  have  felt  that  the  existence 
of  evil  in  the  world  was  incompati])le  witii  that  universal  benevolence  and  goodness 
which  they  ascribe  to  the  Merciful  Great  Spirit.  Iroquois  theology  meets  this  ques- 
tion :  it  accounts  for  it  by  supposing  at  the  creation  tlie  buth  of  two  antagonistic 
powers  of  miracidous  energy,  but  subordinate  to  the  Great  Sj)irit,  one  of  whom  is 
perpetually  employed  to  restore  the  discords  and  maladaptations  in  the  visible  crea- 
tion of  the  otiier. 

The  idea  of  the  allegory  of  the  egg  of  Ormtizd  has  been  suggested,  in  the  progress 
of  Western  .settlements,  by  the  discovery  of  an  earth-work  situated  on  the  summit  of 
a  hill  in  Adams  County,  Ohio.  This  hill  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the 
surface  of  Brush  Creek.  It  represents  the  coil  of  a  serpent  seven  hundred  feet  long, 
but  it  is  thought  would  reach,  if  de]irived  of  its  curves,  one  thousand  feet.  The  jaws 
of  the  serpent  are  represented  as  widely  distended,  as  if  in  the  act  of  swallowing. 
In  the  interstice;  is  an  oval  or  egg-shaped  mound. 

Thus  far,  tlie  beliefs  of  the  more  northerly  of  our  tribes  appear  to  be  of  a 
Clialdec-IVrsic  character.  It  is  no  ])roof  that  nations  have  been  necessarily  con- 
nected in  their  history  because  they  coincide  in  the  rites  of  sun-worship.     Other 


II 


42 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


traits  must  also  coincide.  But  to  those  who  object  to  the  idea  of  the  worship  of  the 
sun  and  moon  as  a  natural  species  of  idolatry  for  barbarous  nations  to  select,  between 
whom,  however,  no  previous  connection  or  intercourse  necessarily  existed,  it  is  replied 
that  this  idea  did  not  propagate  itself  west  with  the  idolatr  jus  Scythians,  at  Iciist 
beyond  Rome,  where  Sylla  established  the  rite  of  an  eternal  Fire ;  nor  did  it  re- 
appear among  the  Celts,  Cimbri,  Teutons,  Iberians,  Sclavonians,  and  other  tribes  who 
filled  all  Europe,  to  its  farthest  confines  in  Scandinavia  and  the  British  isles.  Nor 
do  we  find  that  the  doctrine  of  the  two  principles  of  Good  and  Evil,  so  extensively 
believed  by  the  nations  of  Central  Asia,  was  spread  at  all  in  that  direction.  The 
Celtic  priests  had  no  such  notions,  nor  do  we  hear  of  them  among  the  worshippers  of 
Odin :  they  both  had  an  entirely  different  mythology.  It  is  remarkable  that  there 
was  no  sun-worship  in  the  area  of  Western  Europe.  The  propagation  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Magi  appears  to  have  been  among  the  tribes  east  and  south  of  the 
original  seats  of  their  power  and  influence.  Egypt  had  them  as  early  as  the  Exodus ; 
and  it  has  been  seen  that  the  idolatrous  tribes  of  Chaldea  were  addicted  to  the  wor- 
ship of  the  sun  and  moon. 

It  has  been  found  that  the  Indians  of  the  United  States  believe  in  the  duality  of 
the  soul.  This  ancient  doctrine  is  jjlainly  announced  as  existing  among  the  Algon- 
kina,  in  connection  with,  and  as  a  reason  for,  the  universal  custom  of  the  deposit  of 
food  with  the  dead,  and  that  of  leaving  an  opening  in  the  grave-covering,  wliich  is 
very  general. 

They  also  believe  in  tlie  general  doctrine  of  the  metempsychosis,  or  transmigra- 
tion of  souls.  Pythagoras  is  supposed  to  have  got  his  first  ideas  on  the  subject 
from  the  Egyptian  priests  and  the  recluse  Brahmins.  But,  wherever  he  imbibed  the 
doctrine,  he  transmitted  it  as  far  as  \rs  name  hi.d  influence.  The  views  of  the 
Northern  tribes  on  this  subject  are  showK  incidentally  in  the  oral  tales  which  Mr. 
Schoolcraft  first  began  to  collect  among  tin  Aigonkins  and  Dakotas  in  1822,  and 
which  are  embodied  in  his  "  Algic  Researches."  The  soul  of  man  is  seen,  in  these 
curious  legends,  to  be  thought  immortal,  the  vital  spark  passing  from  one  object  to 
another.  This  object  of  the  new  life  in  general  is  not  man,  but  some  species  of  the 
animated  creation  ;  or  even,  it  may  be,  for  a  time,  an  inanimate  object.  The  circum- 
stances which  determine  this  change  do  not  appear.  Nor  can  it  be  affirmed  that 
the  doctrine  is  parallel,  in  all  respects,  with  the  theory  of  the  Samian  philosopher. 
It  would  seem  that  the  superior  will  of  the  individual,  as  a  spiritually  possessed  per- 
son, himself  determined  the  form  of  his  future  life. 

Great  attention  is  paid  by  the  North  American  Indians  to  the  flight  of  birds, 
whose  motions  in  the  upper  regions  of  the  atmosphere  are  considered  ominous.  Those 
of  the  carnivorous  species  are  deemed  indicative  of  events  in  war,  and  they  are  the 
symbols  employed  in  their  war-songs  and  extemporaneous  chants.  The  gathering 
of  these  species  to  fatten  upon  dead  bodies  left  upon  the  field  of  battle  is  the  image 
strongly  thrown  forward  in  their  chants,  and  these  warlike  Pe-na-si-wug  are  deemed 
to  be  ever  prescient  of  the  times  and  places  of  conflict,  which  are  denoted  by  their 
flight.     As  the  carnivora  are  familiar  with  the  upper  currents  of  the  atmosphere, 


ORIGIN,  TRADITIONS,  PHYSICAL  AND    MENTAL    TYPE. 


43 


where  their  gods  of  the  air  dwell,  their  association  in  the  Indian  mind  with  these 
deities  of  battle  as  messengers  to  carry  intelligence  is  a  well-known  fact.  But  no 
trace  of  the  custom,  so  prevalent  among  the  ancients,  of  seeking  a  knowledge  of  the 
future  by  the  examination,  after  death,  of  entrails  of  any  kind  has  ever  been  found 
among  the  aborigines  of  America. 

Minute  observation  is  also  bestowed  by  them  upon  the  meteorology  of  the  clouds. 
Their  size,  their  color,  their  motions,  their  relative  position  to  the  sun  and  to  the 
horizon,  form  the  subject  of  a  branch  of  knowledge  which  is  in  the  hands  of  their 
medas  and  prophets.  Important  events  are  often  decided  by  predictions  founded  on 
such  observations.  The  imagery  of  this  exalted  view  of  the  celestial  atmosphere, 
with  its  starry  background,  and  its  warfare  of  thunder,  lightning,  electricity,  aurora 
borealis,  and  storms,  is  very  much  employed  in  their  personal  names.  This  imagery 
is  capable  of  being  graphically  seized  on  by  their  transjjositive  languages,  and  is 
highly  poetic.  The  habit  of  such  observation  has  evidently  been  nurtured  by  living 
for  ages,  as  the  race  has  done,  in  the  open  air,  and  without  houses  to  obscure  every 
possible  variety  of  atmospheric  juxtaposition  and  display. 

We  might  continue  this  discussion  of  oi)inions  and  beliefs  which  appear  to  lie 
hidden  in  the  mythology  of  the  Indian  mind,  or  are  only  brought  out  in  an  inci- 
dental manner,  and  whicli  appear  not  to  have  had  an  indigenous  origin ;  but  we 
should  do  great  injustice  to  the  Indian  character  not  to  mention  by  far  the  most 
prominent  of  their  beliefs,  so  far  as  they  govern  his  daily  practices.  We  allude  to 
the  doctrine  of  Manitoes,  or  what  may  be  denominated  Manitology.  And  here 
appears  to  be  the  strongest  ground  for  the  claim  of  originality  of  conception.  All  the 
tribes  have  some  equivalent  to  this.  We  use  the  Algonkin  word,  because  that  is  best 
known.  The  word  Manito,  when  not  used  with  a  prefix  or  accent,  does  not  mean  the 
Deity  or  Great  S])irit.  It  is  confined  to  a  spiritual  or  mysterious  power.  The  doc- 
trine that  a  man  may  possess  such  a  power  is  well  established  in  the  belief  of  all  the 
tribes.  All  their  priests  and  prophets  a.ssert  the  possession  of  it,  but  the  possession  is 
not  believed  by  even  the  blindest  zealot  or  imjiostor  to  be  supreme  or  equal  to  that  of 
the  Great  Merciful  Sjjirit,  or  demiurgic  deity.  A  man  may  fast  to  obtain  this  power. 
The  initial  fast  at  the  age  of  puberty,  which  every  Indian  undergoes,  is  for  light  to 
be  individually  advertised  and  become  aware  of  this  personal  Manito.  WJien 
revealed  in  dreams,  his  purpose  is  accomplished,  and  he  adopts  that  revelation, 
which  is  generally  some  bird  or  animal,  as  his  personal  or  guardian  Manito.  He 
trusts  in  it  in  war  and  in  })eace ;  and  there  is  no  exigency  in  life,  in  or  from  which  he 
believes  it  cannot  help  or  extricjite  him.  The  misfortune  is,  for  his  peace  and  wel- 
fare of  mind,  that  these  Manitoes  are  not  of  equal  and  harmonious  power.  One  is 
constantly  supjiosed  to  be  "stronger,"  or  to  have  greater  spiritual  powers,  than 
another.  Hence  the  Indian  is  never  sure  that  his  neighbor  is  not  under  the 
guardianship  of  a  Manito  stronger  than  his  own. 

This  is  not  the  worst  of  the  doctrine.  There  are  malignant  as  well  as  benev- 
olent Manitoes.  Here  the  two  principles  of  good  and  evil,  which  we  have  dis- 
cussed as  of  Oriental  origin,  develop  themselves.     The  evil  Manito  is  constantly 


44 


TUB  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


exercising  lii«  power  to  countenict  or  overreach  the  good.  And  thuH  the  Tndian, 
who  believes  in  ii  piisHive  ( Jreat  Spirit,  or  (hzlin  Munito,  with  no  other  attributcH  than 
goo(hies3  and  ubiipiity,  i»  k'ft  in  u  perpetnal  and  horrible  state  of  tear.  Ilia  (Jreat 
Spirit  is  believed  to  rule  the  earth  and  the  sky,  and  to  be  the  Wa-ziia-waud,  or 
maker  of  the  world ;  but  he  leaves  these  two  antiigonistic  classes  of  AIanit<^»e8  to 
war  with  each  other,  and  to  counteract  each  other's  designs,  to  lill  the  world  with 
turmoils,  and,  in  fact,  to  govern  the  moral  destinies  of  mankind. 

There  is  no  attempt  by  the  hunter  priesthood,  jugglers,  or  pow-wows,  which  can 
be  gathered  from  their  oral  traditions,  to  impute  to  the  Great  Merciful  Spirit  the 
attribute  oi  justice,  or  to  make  man  accountable  to  him,  here  or  hereafter,  for  aber- 
rations from  virtue,  good  will,  truth,  or  any  form  of  moral  right.  With  benevolence 
and  pity  as  prime  attributes,  the  (}reat  Transcendental  Spirit  of  the  Indian  does  not 
take  upon  himself  a  righteous  administration  of  the  world's  affairs,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, leaves  it  to  be  lilleil,  and  its  atl'airs,  in  reality,  governed,  by  demons  and  fiends 
in  luunan  form.  Here  is  the  Indian  theology.  Every  one  will  see  how  subtile  it  is ; 
how  well  calculated  to  lead  the  uninformed  hunter  mind  caj)tive  and  make  it  ever 
fearful ;  and  how  striking  a  coincidence  its  leading  dogma  of  the  two  opposing  prin- 
ciples of  Good  and  Evil  attbrds  with  the  Oriental  doctrines  to  which  we  have 
referred. 

It  is  difficult  to  introduce  comparisons  between  the  barbarous  tribes  of  America 
and  the  existing  civilized  races  of  Asia.  The  latter,  east  of  the  Indus  at  least,  and 
bordering  on  the  Indian  Ocean,  are  called  non-progressive  races ;  but  they  possess  a 
type  of  civilization,  founded  on  agriculture,  arts,  and  letters,  which  is  very  ancient. 
They  have  practised  the  science  of  numbers  and  astronomy  from  the  earliest  times. 
Most  or  all  of  them  have  alphabets.  The  cuneiform  character  was  in  use  in  the 
days  of  Darius  Ilystaspas.  Many  of  the  arts  are  supposed  to  have  had  their  origin 
there.  The  use  of  iron  among  them  is  without  date.  Their  systems  of  religious 
philosophy  were  committed  to  wiiting,  if  not  put  in  print,  before  America  was 
discovered.  The  Chinese  knew  the  art  of  printing  before  it  was  discovered  in 
Europe.  They  were  acquainted  with  the  jwwers  of  tlie  magnet  and  the  mariner's 
compass.  Naval  architecture  ha.s  belonged  to  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  time  out 
of  mind.  The  Ilindoas  built  temples  in  India  vjf  enormous  magnitude  and  exact 
proportions,  long,  it  is  believed,  before  the  use  of  Egyptian  or  Grecian  architecture. 
The  sword,  the  spear,  the  bow  and  arrow,  and  the  shield  and  banner,  came  into  their 
hands  from  the  earliest  days  of  the  Assyrian,  Chaldean,  aiul  i'crsian  monarchies. 

Many  have  supposed  that  ihe  Oriental  arts  an<l  knowledge  were  transferred  to 
this  continent  at  early  epochs,  and  have  beheld  evidence  of  this  in  the  ruins  of 
temples,  teocuUis,  and  other  structures  and  vestiges  of  ancient  art  scattered  over  the 
country.  We  shall  know  more  of  this  when  we  come  to  find  and  decipher  inscrip- 
tions. As  yet  very  little  is  known  scientifically  of  Ameriwm  ruins  and  monuments 
of  anti(iuity.  We  have  done  very  little  beyond  the  popular  desi'rii)tion  of  certain 
remains  of  ancient  architecture. 

We  have  said  that  it  is  dillics  It  to  compare  the  notions  of  our  Indians  with  those 


ORiam,  TRADITIONS,  PHYSICAL  AND  MENTAL    TYPE. 


46 


of  the  existing  Orientals :  the  one  is  a  barbarous  race — mere  liunters,  without  knowl- 
edge, arts,  or  letters ;  the  other  civilized,  and  possessing  them.  Something  may, 
however,  be  inferred  from  the  theory  announced  of  the  antiquity  of  thought  and 
ideas. 

It  has  been  seen  in  the  course  of  our  discussion  that  the  Indians  of  America 
v/orship,  with  more  truth  and  purity  than  has  been  found  this  side  of  ihe  Indus,  the 
Tigris,  and  the  Eui)hrateH,  the  being  of  a  universal  God,  or  Manito,  who  is  called  in 
the  North  the  Great,  Good,  or  Merciful  Spirit.  To  his  power  they  oppose  an  antago- 
nistic (Jreat,  J'>il-Minde(l  Spirit,  who  is  constantly  seeking  to  destroy  and  overturn 
all  good  and  benevolent  measures.  This  evil  power,  or  Matchi  Manila,  is  represented 
or  symbolized  often  by  the  Serpent;  hence  gifts  and  addresses  are  made  to  him  by 
their  modus  and  jossakceds.  They  also  offer  oblations  to  him  directly,  as  inhabiting 
the  solid  earth.  They  pour  out  drinks  to  him.  Thus  the  ancient  Oriental  notion  of 
a  dualistic  deity  is  revealed. 

It  has  also  been  seen  that  they  are  worshippers  of  the  elements,  of  fire,  and  of  the 
sun ;  and  that  hynms  and  offerings  are  made  to  the  latter.  It  lias  been  shown  that 
their  oral  traditions  contain  abundant  evidi-nce  of  the  idea  of  metempsychosis,  or 
the  transmigration  of  the  soul  through  a  wandering  series  of  existences,  human  and 
brute. 

The  Hindoo  idea  of  caste  is  unknown  to  the  North  American  Indian.  To  him 
all  races  are  "  born  equal."  The  burning  of  widows  at  the  funeral  pile,  the  casting 
of  bodies  into  any  stream,  like  the  Ganges,  whose  waters  are  believed  to  be  sacred, 
are  ideas  and  practices  equally  unknown.  The  incineration  of  the  bodies  of  the  dead 
was  not  practised  on  this  continent,  even  in  the  tropica,  and  is  a  rite  unknown  to  the 
tribes  of  the  United  States ;  there  is  no  infanticide,  no  car  of  Juggernaut. 

The  periodical  offering  of  cakes,  libations,  flesh,  or  viands  at  the  grave,  to  ances- 
tors, or  the  Patras  of  the  human  race,  which  is  stated  to  be  a  custom  of  the  Hindoos, 
is,  however,  seen  to  be  an  idea  incor])orated  in  the  practice  of  the  American,  or  at 
least  the  Algonie,  Indians.  These  Indians,  believing  in  the  duality  of  the  soul,  and 
that  the  soul  sensorial  abides  for  a  time  with  the  body  in  the  grave,  requiring  food 
for  its  ghostly  existence  and  journcyings,  deposit  meats  and  other  aliment  with  it,  at 
and  after  the  time  of  interment.  This  custom  is  universal,  and  was  one  of  their  earliest 
observed  traits.     De  IJry  mentions  a  feast  to  fire  in  1588. 

Another  custom,  near  akin  to  it,  prevails.  They  offer  pieces  of  flesh  and  viands, 
at  meals  and  feastj^,  to  their  O-glt-tc-zeem-e-tcug,  or  ancestors.  This  duty  seems  to 
be  obligatory  on  every  Indian  in  good  standing  with  his  tribe,  who  has  been,  so  to 
say,  piously  instructed  by  the  medius  or  his  parents ;  and  the  consequence  is,  he  fears 
to  neglect  it.  Every  fcsist,  in  fact,  every  meal  at  which  there  is  some  particularly 
savory  or  extra  dish,  brings  prouiinently  up  this  duty  of  a  gift  to  the  spirit  of  fore- 
fathers, or  of  those  relatives  in  old  times,  or  newly  deceased,  who  have  preceded  them 
to  the  grave.     The  first  idea  that  a  grave,  or  burial-grouml,  or  ad-je-da-tig,^  suggests 


'  Grave-po8t. 


4A 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


to  him,  is  the  duty  he  owea  as  uu  honest  man,  expecting  good  luck  in  life,  to  hia 
relatives. 

When  an  Indian  falls  into  the  fire,  or  is  partly  burned,  it  is  a  belief  that  the 
spirits  of  his  ancestors  have  pushed  him  into  the  flames,  owing  to  the  neglect  of 
these  ])ious  offerings.  Sometimes  it  is  a  wife  or  a  child  that  is  believed  to  be  thus 
pushed.  In  passing  a  grave-yard  or  burial-place  where  the  remains  of  his  ancestors 
repose,  the  Indian  is  strongly  reminded  of  this  pious  duty,  and  if  ho  has  anything 
from  which  a  meat-  or  drink-offering  can  be  made,  his  feelings  make  a  strong  appeal 
to  him  to  perform  it. 

It  is  a  species  of  idolatry  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  Israelites,  that  while  they  were 
in  the  wilderness  they  "  ate  the  sacrifices  of  the  dead."  There  is  hardly  a  form  of 
Eastern  idolatry  herein  alluded  to  into  which  the  Israelites  had  not,  at  one  time  or 
another,  fallen ;  but  the  most  common,  wide-spread,  and  oft-recurring  rite  was  that 
of  burning  incense  on  high  places  to  imaginary  beings,  or  devils,  under  the  delusive 
idea  of  their  being  gods,  the  very  trait  which  is  so  striking  in  all  our  Indian  tribes. 

If  Hindostan  can  be  regarded  in  truth  as  having  contributed  to  our  Indian  stocks 
at  all,  it  must  have  been  at  a  very  ancient  period,  before  the  Vedas  were  written,  for 
it  is  asserted  that  the  present  customs  of  the  Hindoos  are  corruptions  of  an  older 
system  and  are  in  many  things  new  or  traceable  to  those  books. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  some  of  the  beliefs  common  to  all  barbarous  nations,  as 
that  of  a  flood,  the  destruction  of  the  world  by  fire,  water,  or  earthquake,  were  found 
among  the  North  American  Indians.  Such  corresj)ondences,  however,  may  have 
arisen  spontaneously,  and  do  not  necessarily  imply  inherited  characteristics  or  affin- 
ities, but  should  be  regarded  as  growing  out  of  the  similar  contact  with  external 
nature  and  its  exigencies,  of  similarly-constituted  beings  governed  by  the  same 
natural  laws  and  instincts  and  controlled  and  fettered  by  the  same  natural  limita- 
tions. Like  caijses  have  always  produced,  and  will  to  the  end  of  time  continue  to 
produce,  like  effects  all  the  world  over. 


CHAPTER    II. 


LANQUAOB,  LITERATURE,  AND  PICTOGRAPHY. 


Language  is  one  of  the  most  reliable  aids  to  the  student  of  the  mental  organiza- 
tion of  the  Indians.  The  tribes  had  not,  until  the  advent  of  the  very  modern  Cher- 
okee Cadmus,  in  1824,  made  the  least  progress  towards  the  invention  of  signs  by 
which  to  expreH.4  sounds,  but  made  use  of  the  lowest  form  of  the  hieroglyphic  art. 
In  their  attempts  at  mnemonic  pictography,  their  invention  was  tasked  to  its  fullest 
extent  to  produce  ideographic  representative  figures.  No  '.ffort  was  made  to  produce 
a  system  of  vocal  notation.  The  pictographic  artist  made  use  of  a  series  of  figures 
having  the  character  of  nouns  in  grammatical  definition, — action  being  inferrible  from 
the  proximity  of  the  devices.  Still,  their  languages  had  fixed  vocabularies,  and  there 
were  mental  laws,  older  than  letters,  prescribing  the  practical  bearing  of  one  idea 
upon  another.  These  vocabularies  were  made  up  from  primary  sounds  or  particles, 
indicating  objects  and  acts,  which  denoted  affiliation.  There  was  a  mental  rule 
which  prescribed  how  the  nominative  should  be  distinguished  from  the  objective. 
Inflections  were  employed  to  distinguish  numbers  and  personal  plurals.  Even  in 
the  least  advanced  tribes,  the  necessity  of  expressing  an  adjective  sense  was  experi- 
enced. Black  and  white,  red  and  green,  were  required  to  be  denoted ;  the  light  of 
the  sun  must  needs  be  contradistinguished  from  the  gloom  of  night ;  and  the  location 
of  an  object,  whether  high  or  low,  above  or  beneath,  within  or  without,  called  for  the 
use  of  such  an  adjunct.  Others  followed.  In  most  of  the  languages,  the  quick  repe- 
tition of  the  same  syllable  implies  a  superlative  signification ;  a  peculiar  inflection  of 
the  verb  transforms  it  into  a  substantive ;  there  are  also  tensal  and  multiplied  forms 
of  syllabification.  These  peculiarities  of  language  are  common  among  circles  of 
tribes,  and  afford  a  clue  to  their  history,  although  philologists  have  as  yet  "  found  no 
suflicient  data  for  determining  cither  the  fact  or  the  degree  of  relationship  between 
one  family  or  group  and  another." ' 

Their  languages  simulate  an  historical  chart,  upon  which  we  can  trace  '  acl.  the 
tribes  to  the  period  of  their  original  dispersion  over  this  continent,  and  mui  &  their 
linguistic  relations.  By  developing  those  frequently  obscure  connections,  we  are 
enabled  to  perceive  that  a  single  genus  or  family  of  tribes,  speaking  one  common 
language,  occupied  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  from  North  Carolina  to  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  liawrence,  thence  extended  westward  through  the  great  lake  basins  to  the 
sources  of  the  Mississippi,  and  down  the  left  bank  of  that  stream  to  the  mouth  of  the 


'  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  in  Johnson's  Cycloprodia,  art.  "  Indian  Languages." 


47 


48 


THE  INDIAN   TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Ohio;  that  anothiT  j!;cmiM  wcro  rcHulcnts  of  the  country  Huiroiiii(liiig  fhii  Houthern 
proloiigiitioii  of  tho  Alh'^liaiiicH,  or  AiipalachiaiiH  proper;  and  tliat  a  tliinl  gctiiiH 
had  liurnt,  with  ilH  Hoiioroiis  hiiii^uagc,  and  as  if  with  Vaiidali<'  iinpotiioHity,  into  tho 
central  and  AVOHtern  area  of  New  York.  ThcHo  three  hIocIvh  were  the  Algonkinn, 
the  IrotpioiH,  and  the  AppahichianH. 

In  Ciilifornia,  and  north  of  it,  one  ntock  of  huignago  is  generally  rei)reHented  by 
Hoveral  diuleetn  and  Hub-diah'etH,  HonietinieH  by  a  huge  number  of  thence ;  but  thoro 
arc  instances,  as  in  Shasta  and  Klanuith,  wliere  a  Htoek  is  represented  by  one  idiom 
only.  Although  certain  reseniblances  between  them  may  be  traced,  they  are  totjally 
distinct  in  their  radicals,  and  by  this  criterion  their  classillcation  by  stocks  or  families 
becomes  j)ossible.' 

The  Algonkin  language  has  been  more  cultivated  than  any  of  the  other  North 
American  tongues.  Containing  no  sounds  of  diilicult  utterance,  capable  of  an  easy 
and  clear  expression,  and  with  u  copious  vocabulary,  it  has  been  the  favorite  medium 
of  communication  on  the  frontiers  from  the  earliest  times.  The  French  at  an  early 
period  made  themselves  masters  of  it ;  and,  from  its  general  use,  it  has  been  some- 
times called  the  court  language  of  the  Indian.  In  its  various  ethnological  forms, 
as  spoken  by  the  Delaware,  Mohican,  iShawnee,  Miami,  Illinois,  Chippewa,  Ottawa, 
Pottawatomie,  Kickapoo,  and  many  other  tril)es,  it  lias  been  familiar  to  the  English 
colonists  from  the  respective  eras  of  the  settlement  of  Virginia,  New  York,  and  New 
England.  It  was  the  most  widely  diffused  and  the  most  fertile  in  dialects  of  uH  the 
Indian  tongues.  "  It  was  spoken,  though  not  exclusively,"  says  IJancroft,  "  in  a 
territory  that  extended  through  sixty  degrees  of  longitude  and  more  than  twenty 
degrees  of  latitude." 

In  1848,  Mr.  CJallatiii  einimerated  thirty-two  distinct  families  in  and  north  of 
the  United  States,  not  including  Calilbrnia  and  New  Mexico.  His  classification  has 
stood  the  test  of  subsequent  critical  investigation,  and  has  been  generally  accej)ted.* 
Dialects  of  the  Athabascan,  Algonkin,  and  Dakota,  or  Sioux,  are  spoken  in  at  least 
four-lifths  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Kocky  Mountains.  Within 
the  bounds  of  the  Algonkin  territory  were  inclu(h'd  two  groups  of  Iroquois  speaking 
a  radically  different  language.  Next  to  the  Algonkin  the  Dakota  has  In-en  the  most 
thoroughly  investigated,  a  grammar  and  a  dictionary  by  the  llcv.  S.  K.  liiggs  having 
been  j)ublished. 

The  Iroquois  and  the  Chahta-Muskoki  (including  the  Cherokee)  are  next  in 
importance.  The  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  speak  closely-related  dialects  of  the 
same  language,  to  which  probably  the  Ilitchita  also  belongs.  The  Creeks,  Seminoles, 
and  the  small  tribes  of  Cossattits  and  Alabamas  speak  dialects  of  another  language  of 
the  same  stock.     Extensive  vocabularies  of  these  are  in  course  of  preparation  by  the 


'  For  a  description  of  tho  Indian  lan;,'iiagcs  of  the  Piiciflc  slope,  sec  Albert  S.  Gatechct's  paper  in  (lie 
"Indian  Miscellany,"  pp.  4111-447. 

'  Gallatin's  "  Synop.^is  of  the  Indian  Trihcs"  (Tran.s.  Amer.  Antii|.  Hoe.,  vol.  ii.)  is  still  the  best  guide 
for  the  structure  and  comparative  grammar  of  the  North  American  Indians. 


LAXOr.iGK,   I.ITtntATriiK,  AND   I'lCTOGHAr/IV. 


49 


Smitliflonian  IiiHtitiitioii.  In  llu«  Clicrokoo  lan^iinj^c  cvory  Byllahlt!  ends  with  a 
vowol  or  II  na-Mal,  wliicli  Hn;jj;('Htt'(l  to  Harloii  an  allinity  witli  tlie  InKiiioin. 

Ui'twccn  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  tlu'  Sierra  Nevada  tlio  niont  important  group 
iH  the  ISIioHJionc,  nortii  of  whom  are  two  conHidoralde  funiilicH, — the  Sahaptin  and  tho 
Kelish.  For  Home  yearn  little  progresH  hiw  been  made  in  chuwifying  tlie  hmgtiages 
of  tho  nnmerouH  Hniail  triben  of  tlie  I'aeifie  Hlo|)e. 

The  languages  of  the  village  IndiauH,  or  I'ucbloH,  of  New  Mexieo  and  Arizona 
pOMHOss  much  interest  for  the  ethncdogist  and  pliilologist,  dialects  of  four  or  live  dis- 
tinct languages,  no  two  of  which  u])j)ear  to  be  related,  being  H])oken  in  their  scattered 
villages. 

Our  Indian  hmgnages  form  a  medium  of  communication  admirably  ailapted  to 
all  the  purposes  of  Indian  life,  and  capable  of  almost  unlimited  application  and 
extension.  To  a  vocabulary  not  multiform  in  \\m  roots,  the  Indians  apply  a  system 
of  selection  which  enables  tho  speaker,  by  tho  formation  of  derivatives  and  com- 
pounds, to  multiply  words  and  cx|)ressions  in  a  manner  of  which  the  English  lan- 
guage gives  not  the  slightest  concei)tion.  Not  only  the  subject  noun,  but  it«  qualities 
and  its  position,  the  persons,  nominative  and  ()bje(rtive,  and  the  action  of  which 
it  is  the  active,  passive,  or  reflective  object,  are  all  indicated  in  a  single  expression. 
This  concrete  character  of  the  language  gives  to  some  i  its  words  a  copiousness 
of  expression  which  a  rigid  monosyllabic  language  does  not  possess;  and  tho  mean- 
ing conveyed  by  some  single  Indian  words  would,  in  tho  English  language,  require 
an  entire  sentence  for  its  explanation.  The  great  art  requisite  is  to  seize  upon  the 
princij)le  of  combination.  The  objection  to  this  process  of  word-making  is  that  the 
ex]>ressions  are  inconveniently  long,  which  defect  is  not,  however,  apparent  in  an 
oral  language,  but  is  very  strikingly  developed  when  it  comes  to  bo  written, — and 
written,  as  it  usually  is,  without  the  aid  of  accents  to  guide  tho  pronunciation. 
Many  of  its  concords,  too,  appear  suimrfluous ;  such  as  its  double  indications  of 
tense  and  number,  double  possessivos,  etc.,  creating  a  rhythmical  flow  of  language, 
which,  however,  has  a  tendency  to  the  verbose  rather  than  to  the  poetic.  One  of 
its  most  objectionable  features  appears  to  us  to  be  the  cxt(>nsion  of  the  principle 
of  gender  so  far  as  to  neutralize  the  distinction  between  miisculine  and  feminine, 
in  its  verbal  forms,  requiring  only  a  concordance  in  animate  and  inanimate  objects. 
This  docs  not  abolish  the  use  of  masculine,  feminine,  and  even  sexual  nouns,  i.e., 
words  restricted  in  their  use  to  males  and  females ;  but  it  leaves  all  the  pronouns  in 
the  condition  of  mere  animates.  There  is  no  distinction  between  he  and  she.  The 
chief  excellence  of  Indian  speech  was  justly  considered  by  Mr.  Gallatin  to  be  "  the 
happy  manner  by  which,  through  the  insertion  of  a  single  particle,  not  only  tenses 
and  our  common  moods,  but  almast  every  modification  of  the  action,  is  specially 
expressed."  The  languages  seem  to  be  replete  with  resources  when  apjdied  to  the 
phenomena  of  nature.  The  heavens  and  the  earth  appear  to  conatitute,  in  the 
iniagination  of  tho  Indian,  a  symbolic  volume  which  even  a  child  may  read.  All 
that  relates  to  light  and  shade,  to  color  and  quality,  to  ])urity  or  impurity,  to  spirit 
or  mattisr,  to  air  or  earth,  is  blended  with  the  subject  noun,  and  is  indicated  at  one 

7 


111 


BO 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


exhalii'lon  oi*  prolongation  of  the  breath.  In  the  sky,  on  the  sky,  or  under  the 
sky  ;  in  or  07i  the  water ;  by  or  on  the  shore ;  in  or  on  the  tree;  black  or  blue  clouds; 
clear  or  muddy  Avater ;  deep  or  shalloxo  streams;  vp  the  river  or  down  the  river;  /;» 
heaven  or  on  earth,  are  each  but  single  'vords  of  a  simple  derivative  cliaraeter.  Says 
Mr.  Albert  Gatschet,'  "  The  Indian  neglects  to  express  with  accuracy  some  relation-! 
which  seem  of  jiaramount  importance  to  us,  as  tense  and  sex,  but  his  language  Is 
superior  to  ours  in  the  variety  of  its  personal  pionouns,  in  many  forms  expressing 
the  mode  of  action  or  the  idea  of  property  and  possession,  and  the  relations  of  the 
person  or  persons  addressed  to  the  subject  of  the  sentence."  Unlike  the  modern 
cultivated  languages,  the  Indian  dialects  are  all  homogeneous  in  their  material,  and 
strictly  philosophic,  or  systematic,  in  their  principles.  Their  common  likeness, 
however,  exists  rather  in  their  plan  of  thought  tuan  in  their  vocabularies.  The 
general  tone  of  conversation  is  more  elevated  in  point  of  thought  than  among  any 
analogous  doss  of  people  in  civilizod  life.  The  diction  is  simple  and  pure;  and 
hence  the  most  common  sentences  of  their  speakoi-s,  when  literally  translated,  are 
remarkably  attractive.  Exalted  and  disinterested  sentiments  are  frequently  ex- 
pressed by  their  sententious  polysyllables  with  a  happy  effect.  In  attempts  to 
unravel  the  intricacies  of  its  syntax  the  minil  is  often  led  to  wonder  whence  a  people 
so  literally  "  peeled  and  scattered"  should  have  derived,  not  the  language  itself,  but 
the  principles  whioii  govern  its  enunciation.  Their  language  embraces  over  one 
hundred  and  fortv  dialect.-." 


CIIEROKE'E    ALl'IIAnKT. 


The  aged  and  vinerable  missionary  Mr.  Butrick,  who  died  in  1851,  is  believed 
to  have  boon  the  ea/lier-t  teacher  in  the  Cherolee  country,  being  employed  under  the 
society  of  Unit''d  Moravian  Brethren.  The  first  school  was  cstal)lished  by  the  Amer- 
ican Board  *' Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  in  1817.  These  efforts  appear,  in 
their  development,  to  have  stimulated  the  vital  s])ark  of  inventive  thought  which  led 
a  native  Cherokee  to  give  his  peoi)le  an  original  alphabet.  George  Guess,  or  Sequoia, 
appears  to  have  been  some  time  engnged  in  perfecting  his  invention.  About  1824  it 
was  definitely  announced,  and  examined  by  the  missionaries,  who  found  it  to  be  u 
syllabic  system  and  pronounced  it  well  adapted  to  teach  the  Cherokee  population. 
It  seemed  particularly  suited  to  the  adults,  who  immedintely  embraced  it,  and  it  has 
since  been  taugiit  to  all  classes  conjointly  with  tlie  Eiiglisli.-'  Two  of  the  charactcfs, 
being  found  homophonous,  have  been  abolished  in  practice.    The  Indian  mind  being 


'  Indian  Miscellany,  p.  til). 

'  I  p  to  the  year  1875  the  .Siuithsnn'an  Institution  in  ^Y  "iliington  had  collected  texts,  phraseology,  and 
Eiven  hundred  •'nd  seventy-one  vocabularies  of  about  two  hundred  words  each.  Only  a  small  portion  of  this 
mass  of  matori- '  iias  as  yd  licen  pulilished. 

'  fiuess  was  a  half-broi'd  ('hcrokic,  horn  in  (leorniii  about  the  year  1770.  Ho  steadfastly  declined  to 
embrace  Christianity,  and  is  said  to  have  bitterly  regretted  the  success  of  his  alphabet  when  by  its  means  the 
New  Testament  was  printed  in  the  Cherokee  tongue. 


LANCdAGE,  LITERATURE,   AND  PICTOGRAPHY. 


51 


accustomed  to  view  and  express  objects  in  the  gross  or  combined  form,  it  has  natu- 
rally fallen  on  this  plan  for  an  alphabet.  Nearly  all  the  words  of  the  vocabulary 
end  in  a  vowel.  Each  vowel  is  preceded  by  thirteen  combinations  of  the  consonant, 
making  sixty-four  syllables.  To  this  scheme  there  are  added  twelve  characters  to 
represent  double  consonants.  No  other  American  language,  however,  could  be  written 
by  such  a  simple  scheme.  It  cannot  be  applied  to  any  dialect  of  either  the  Algon- 
kin,  the  Iroquois,  the  Dakota,  the  Appalachian,  or  the  Shoshone.  Consecpiently  its 
application  is  limited.  It  provides  for  the  expression  only  of  such  sounds  Jis  occur 
in  the  Cherokee  language.  Still,  its  utility  in  that  language  hus  been  highly  appre- 
ciated, and  it  remains  a  striking  phenomenon  in  the  history  of  American  i)hilology. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  '^ecause  the  Indian  has  no  alphabet,  and  no 
written  productions  of  his  mind,  he  has  no  literature  of  his  own.  That  he  has  one 
worthy  of  attention  and  eminently  characteristic  is  ijufliciently  attested  by  those  who 
have  listened  to  his  prophets,  his  orators,  and  his  story-tellers,  or  who  have  heard 
his  war-shouts  and  songs,  or  the  mournful  dirges  of  the  women.  A  large  number 
of  Ojibway  songs  were  collected  and  published  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  and  a  much 
larger  number  from  various  tribes,  some  of  them  highly  poetical  jjroductions,  have 
been  obtained  by  ]Mr.  Gatschet. 

It  is  known  that  the  seasons  of  leisure  and  recreation  of  all  the  American  tribes 
are  devoted,  in  no  small  part,  to  the  songs  and  dances  commemorative  of  their  war- 
like deeds ;  and  in  this  way  they  have  directed  j)ublic  attention  s])eeially  to  military 
worth  as  the  chief  attainment.  Through  the  iniluence  of  the.se  gatherings  and 
festivities,  ;  new  body  of  warriors  is  raised  every  decade  from  the  listening  children 
who  are  to  take  the  places  of  their  fathers  and  progenitors  on  the  war-path.  To  do 
as  their  forefathers  difl  is  commendable  and  praiseworthy.  The  songs  are  gener- 
ally some  wilil  boast  of  prowess  or  achievement,  or  violent  symbolic  expression 
of  power,  and  allusions  to  their  tutelary  divinities,  having  for  their  theme  trium])h 
in  battle.  The  chorus  of  tiiese  chants  consists,  for  the  most  part,  of  traditionary 
monosyllables,  which  ajjpear  to  admit  often  of  transposition,  and  the  utterance  of 
which,  at  least,  is  so  managed  Jis  to  ])ermit  the  words  to  be  sung  in  strains  to  suit  the 
nnisic  and  dance.  This  music  is  a(!curately  '  ept,  and  the  bars  marked  with  full 
expression  by  the  Indian  ta-wii-i'-gun  and  rattle,  accompanying  the  voices  of  the 
choristers. 

No  collections  and  translations  of  their  forest  or  war  choruses  and  songs  have 
been  made  which  do  justice  to  the  sentiments  and  ideas  ox\n\  ed.  It  is  perhaps  too 
early  in  our  literary  iiistory  to  expect  such.  The  expres,-! ms  of  warriors  who  join 
the  dance  with  sharp  yi'Us,  which  are  resj)on(led  to  by  th'  actoi-s  already  in  the  ring 
of  the  listeners  to  the  recital  of  heroic  exploits,  are  to  a  large  extent  mnemonic,  and 
are  intended  to  bring  to  mind  known  ideas  and  conceptions  of  war  iind  bn  vcrv. 
Many  of  them  appeal  to  the  names  of  carnivorous  birds  or  (piadrupeds,  wliii-h  are 
employed  purely  as  symbols  of  speed,  prowess,  or  carnage.  All  the  concomitants  of 
the  Indian  war-path  are  jjresented  to  the  mind.  The  hearers  are  expected  to  know 
tiic  mythological  and  necromantic  theories  and  dogmas  of  the  tribe  on  '.vhich  these 


il 


no 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


expressions  are  founded,  and  but  for  which  knowledge  the  expressions  would  lack  all 
their  force  and  pertinency. 

There  is  another  department  in  which  the  feelings  and  sentiments  of  the  Indian 
tribes  have  been  poetically  expressed  :  it  is  the  memory  of  the  dead.  A  fallen  war- 
rior is  honored  and  lamented  by  the  whole  tribe ;  the  gathered  village  attends  his 
funeral.  An  address  is  uniformly  made,  which  often  partakes  of  the  character  of 
eulogy.  A  speaker  or  a  counsellor  is  buried  and  lamented  with  equal  respect,  and 
the  names  of  their  brave  and  wise  men  are  remembered  with  tenacity.  There  is  no 
subject,  perhaps,  which  calls  fortlx  more  sympathy  than  the  death  of  children. 

In  a  subtile  system  of  cosmogony  and  creative  effort,  in  which  concurring  divini- 
ties are  recognized  as  having  either  performed  a  part,  or  as  having,  by  antagonistic 
powers,  disturbed  the  work  after  it  was  completed,  the  whole  universe  is  regarded 
indeed  as  animated,  either  in  part  or  symbolically.  Each  class  of  creation  is  be- 
lieved to  have  its  representative  deities,  who  have  eyes  and  ears  open  to  everything 
that  exists,  occurs,  or  is  uttered.  Viewed  in  this  light,  winds  have  voices,  the 
leaves  of  the  trees  uttor  u  language,  and  even  the  earth  is  animated  by  a  crowd  of 
spirits  who  have  an  influence  on  the  affairs  of  men.  Hence  many  of  their  chants 
and  songs,  accompanied  with  music,  have  allusion  to  this  wide  and  boundless  theory 
of  created  matter.  In  short,  it  may  be  affirmed  that  the  Intlians  believe  that  every 
element  is  a  part  of  the  great  creative  God. 

Wherever  Indian  sentiment  is  expressed,  there  is  a  tendency  to  the  pensive, — the 
reminiscent.  It  may  be  questioned  whether  hope  is  an  ingredient  of  the  Indian 
mind ;  all  the  tendency  of  reflection  is  directed  towards  the  past.  The  Indian  is  a 
man  of  reminiscences  rather  than  anticipations.  The  consequence  is  that  when- 
ever he  relaxes  his  sternness  and  insensibility  to  cxternai  objeet«,  and  softens  into 
feeling  and  sentiment,  his  mind  is  surrounded  by  feare  of  evil  and  despondency.  To 
lament,  and  not  to  hope,  is  its  characteristic  feature. 

If  poetry  is  ever  destined  to  be  devel'  ,iod  ''ii  such  minds,  it  must  be  of  the  com- 
plaining or  plaintive  or  the  desponding  ca.st.  Discarding  the  single  topic  of  war, 
such  are,  indeed,  the  specimens  we  possess, — words  addressed  to  a  dying  man,  to  a 
lost  child,  death,  the  fear  of  evil  genii,  or  a  sympathy  with  nature.  Most  of  the 
attempts  to  record  poetic  sentiments  in  the  race  have  encountered  difficulties,  from 
the  employment  of  some  forms  of  the  (Jrccian  metres,  or,  still  less  atlapted  to  them, 
English  laws  of  rhyme.  They  have  neither.  Their  language  is  far  better  suitetl, 
!us  the  expression  of  strong  poetic  feeling,  to  the  freedom  of  tlie  Hebrew  measure,  the 
repetitious  style  of  which  reminds  one  of  both  the  Indian  sepulchral  or  burial  chant 
and  eulogy.  There  is,  indeed,  in  the  flow  of  their  oratory,  as  well  as  in  their  songs, 
a  strong  tendency  to  the  figure  of  parallelism. 


Ne-gau  nis-sau — ne-gau  nis-sati- 
Ivitciii-mau-li  sau- 
I  will  kill— I  will  kill— 
The  Americjins — I  will  kill. 


F'l:i|--   ;i 


the 


Sfl 


n"^ 


LANGUAGE,  LITKRATURE,  AND  PICTOGRAPHY. 


53 


There  is  poetry  in  their  very  names  of  places :  Ticonderoga,  the  place  of  the 
separation  of  waters ;  Dionderoga,  the  place  of  the  inflowing  of  waters ;  Saratoga, 
the  place  of  the  bursting  out  of  waters ;  Ontario,  a  beautiful  prospect  of  rocks,  hills, 
and  waters ;  Ohio,  the  beautiful  river,— these  and  a  thousand  other  names  which  are 
familiar  to  the  ear  denote  a  capacity  for  and  love  of  harmony  in  the  collocation  of 
syllables  expressive  of  poetic  thought.  But  the  great  source  of  a  future  poetic  fabric, 
to  be  erected  on  the  framework  of  Indian  words,  when  the  Indian  himself  shall 
have  passed  awoy,  exists  in  his  mythology,  which  provides,  by  a  skilful  system  of 
personification,  not  only  for  every  passion  and  affection  of  the  human  heart,  but  for 
every  phenomenon  of  the  skies,  the  air,  and  the  earth.  I'he  Indian  has  placed  these 
imaginary  gods  wherever,  in  the  geography  of  the  land,  reverence  or  awe  is  to  be 
inspired.  Every  mountain,  lake,  and  waterfall  is  under  such  guardianship.  All 
nature,  every  class  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  creation,  the  very  sounds  of  life, 
the  murmuring  of  the  breeze,  the  dashing  of  water,  every  phenomenon  of  light  or  of 
electricity,  are  made  intelligent  of  human  events,  and  speak  the  language  of  a  god. 
A  specimen  of  their  mythologic  personification  is  here  given. 

SONG  OF   THE   OKOGIS,  OR   FROG   IN   SPRING. 


BY  nA-BAHM-WA-WA-aKZUIO-EQUA. 

See  how  the  white  spirit  presses  us, — 
Presses  us, — presses  us,  heavy  and  lonj» ; 
Presses  us  down  to  the  frost-bitten  earth.' 
Alas !  you  are  heavy,  yo  spirits  so  white, 
Alas  !  you  arc  cold — you  are  cold — you  are  cold. 
Ah  1  cexse,  s)iinin<;  spirits  that  fell  from  the  skies, 
Ah  !  cease  so  to  crush  us  and  keep  us  in  dread ; 
Ah  !  when  will  j'c  vanish,  and  Seogwuu'  return  ? 

Our  earliest  notices  of  the  Indian  denote  a  man  of  excellent  powers  in  oratory . 
Nothing  that  actually  exists  in  his  life  and  training  would  seem,  indeed,  to  justify 
the  expectation  of  so  much  vigor  of  thought  and  propriety  of  expression.  Bi:t  it  is 
not  recollected,  in  this  view,  that  he  has  been  brought  up  in  the  school  of  nature, 
where  his  mind,  from  childhood,  hits  been  impressed  by  images  which  are  bold,  vivid, 
and  fresh.  His  books,  truly,  have  been  the  heavens,  with  all  their  bright  phenomena, 
and  when  he  takes  the  oratorical  attitude,  and  employs  figures  to  enable  him  to  ex- 
l)ress  his  meanings,  within  the  compass  of  a  limited  vocabulary,  it  is  from  this  store- 
house of  his  thoughts  that  the  selection  is  made.  These  illustrations  are  striking  and 
pertinent,  because  they  are  simple  and  true.  He  is  shrewd  and  cautious  in  dealing 
with  the  whites,  because  his  suspicions  have  been  schooled  and  awakened,  all  his  life, 
by  his  position  of  danger,  and  distrust,  and  perfidy  from  his  own  race. 

Nor  is  he  deficient  when  he  comes  to  discourse  of  things  of  the  heart  and  of  its 


'  Allusion  to  the  heavy  beds  of  snow  which  in  the  North  often  lie  late  in  the  spring. 
*  Spring. 


04 


THE  INDIAN   TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


affections.  Stoical  and  imperturbable,  indeed,  he  is  in  Lis  manner ;  but  it  is  sufficient 
to  allude  to  the  names  of  Garangula,  Logan,  Sagoyawatha  or  lied  Jacket,  Canasatigo, 
Pontiac,  Skenandoa,  Tecumseh,  the  once-powerful  Passaconnaway,  and  a  line  of 
renowned  aboriginal  sj)eakers,  to  sustain  the  conclusion  that  the  race  has  produced 
men  of  intellectual,  energetic,  and  eloquent  minds. 

So  long  as  the  North  American  Indian  is  in  civilized  society,  he  is  much  under 
the  influence  of  its  precepts.  But  when  he  retires  from  the  council-house  to  his 
native  woods,  and  hears  the  wild  murnmr  of  nature  around  him,  he  subsides  into 
that  state  of  domestic  repose,  nonchalance,  and  indolence  which  is  so  characteristic 
of  the  Indian  life.  It  is  then  that  the  aboriginal  state  assumes  its  most  poetic  garb. 
With  the  open  heavens  continually  before  him,  his  thoughts  and  dreams  are  of  the 
spirit-world,  and,  as  a  social  being  in  his  wigwam,  he  aims  to  illustrate  life  in  every 
aspect  by  a])peals  to  the  wonderful  and  the  mysterious. 


WABASHAW  S   SPEECH  TO  THE  BRITISH   COMMANDING   OFFICER  AT  DRUMMOND  ISLAND, 
AT   THE   CLOSE   OF   THE   WAR   OF    1812. 

Wabashaw  was  a  Dakota  To  understand  the  force  of  this  si)eech,  it  is  necessary 
to  observe  that  efforts  were  made  by  Tecumseh  and  his  brother,  the  prophet  Elk- 
3watawa,  as  early  as  1800,  to  assemble  the  Indians  on  the  Wabash  and  to  draw  them 
into  a  confederacy  to  act  against  the  United  States.  For  this  j)ur])ose  the  Prophet 
was  the  great  agent.  lie  had  the  reputation  of  great  sanctity  and  religious  power 
among  the  tribes.  It  was  believed  that  he  could  both  foretell  and  produce  events. 
He  addressed  himself  to  the  credulous  Indians  by  arguments  suited  to  their  knowl- 
edge and  beliefs.  To  some  of  the  tribes  who  occuj)ied  northern  latitudes  he  threat- 
ened deep  snows  and  starvation  if  they  did  not  go  ;  to  the  Southern  tribes  he  predicted 
droughts ;  to  all  he  promised  the  favor  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  the  rewards  due  to  a 
brave  and  united  i)eo])le  who  were  willing  to  engage  in  a  great  enterprise.  Some  of 
his  Indian  o])]K)nent.s  he  took  up  by  charges  of  sorcery  and  witchcraft.  The  great 
Shawnee  chief  Tarhe,  who  stood  in  his  way,  was  condemned  to  the  stake  as  a  wizard. 
A  large  number  of  Indians  collecting  in  a  short  period  on  the  Waba.sh,  General 
Harrison,  the  Governor  of  Indiana,  marched  to  disperse  them,  in  1811.  He  was 
treacherously  attacked,  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  Ti])pccanoe,  and  a 
sanguinary  battle  ensued. 

Afliiii-s  were  rapidly  readiing  a  crisis.  War  wius  openly  declared  in  J  812,  and  tlu! 
Western  Indians,  wlio  had  assembled  in  large  numbers,  were  instigated  to  the  com- 
mission of  acts  of  cruelty  and  bloodshed.  For  two  years  the  American  armies  on 
the  frontiers  suffered  defeat.  At  the  end  of  this  period  the  tide  rolled  back,  and 
they  were  victorious  along  the  whole  frontier,  from  New  Orleans  to  the  river  Thames, 
in  Canada.  Every  hope  for  which  the  tril)es  had  combined  was  blasted;  their 
leader  fell ;  the  trealy  of  (Jhent  made  not  even  a  pnnision  for  them.  It  was  under 
these  circumstances  that  Wabasliaw,  a  celebrated  Sioux  ciiief,  uttered  the  following 
si»ee('li,  at  (he  post  of  Drummond  Island,  a  new  juist  occuj)led  by  the  Pritish  govern- 


LANGUAGE,  LITERATURE,  AND  PICTOGRAPHY. 


m 


ment  on  surrendering  Michilimackinac,  after  the  treaty  of  Ghent.    Colonel  Robert 
McDuall  was  the  commanding  officer. 

My  father :  What  is  this  I  see  before  me  ?  a  few  knives  and  blankets  ?  Is  this  all 
you  promised  us  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  ? 

Where  is  the  fulfilment  of  those  high  speeches  of  promise  you  made  us  at  Michili- 
mackinac and  sent  to  our  villages  on  the  Mississippi  ? 

You  told  us  you  would  never  let  fall  the  hatchet  till  the  Americans  were  driven 
beyond  the  Alleghanies  I 

You  said  we  should  again  be  put  in  possession  of  our  ancient  hunting-grounds ! 
You  said  that  our  British  fathers  would  never  make  peace  without  consulting  his 
Red  Children !     Has  this  come  to  pass  ? 

We  never  knew  of  the  peace !  We  are  told  it  was  made  by  our  Great  Father 
beyond  the  big  waters,  without  the  knowledge  of  his  officei-s  and  generals  here. 

We  are  told  it  is  your  duty  to  obey  his  orders.     What  is  this  to  us  ? 

Will  these  paltry  presents  pay  for  the  men  we  have  lost  in  battle  and  on  the 
road  ?  Will  they  soothe  the  feelings  of  our  friends  ?  Will  they  make  good  your 
promises  ? 

For  myself,  I  am  an  old  man !  I  have  lived  long  and  always  found  the  means 
of  support  I     And  I  can  do  so  still ! 

Perhaps  my  young  men  may  pick  up  the  presents  you  have  laid  before  us  1 

I  do  not  want  them ! 


MYTHS   AND   LEGENDS. 

Indian  allegory  presents  an  attractive  field  of  inquiry.  Their  oral  traditions 
of  gods  and  monsters,  spirits  and  genii,  make  a  prominent  display  in  the  Avinter 
arcanum  of  the  wigwam.  Some  of  their  allegories  are  beautifully  sustained.  And 
although  in  their  miscellaneous  legends  and  traditions  there  is  much  that  is  in- 
congruous and  ridiculous,  there  is  still  evidence  of  no  little  variety  of  intellectual 
invention. 

Iroquois  Cosmogony. — The  tribes  who  compose  this  group  of  the  aborigines  con- 
cur in  locating  the  beginning  of  creative  power  in  tlie  upper  regions  of  space.  Neo, 
or  the  Great  Sj)irit  of  Life,  is  placed  there.  Atabocan  is  the  master  of  heaven. 
Tarenyawagon,  who  is  thought  to  be  the  same  as  Michabou,  Chiabo,  Manabozho,  and 
the  Great  Hare,  is  called  the  keeper  of  the  heavens.  Agreskoe  is  the  god  of  war. 
Atahentsic  is  the  woman  of  heaven.  The  beginning  of  the  creation,  or  of  man,  is 
connected  with  her  history.  One  of  the  six  of  the  original  number  of  created  men 
of  heaven  wius  enamored  of  her  immedifitely  after  seeing  her.  Atahocan,  having 
discovered  this  amour,  cast  her  out  headlong  to  the  earth.  She  was  received  below 
on  the  back  of  a  great  turtle  lying  on  the  waters,  and  was  there  delivered  of  twins. 
One  of  them  was  Inigorio,  or  the  Good  Mind;  the  other,  Anti-inigorio,  or  the  Bad 
Mind.     The  good  and  the  evil  principle  were  thus  introduced  into  the  world.     Both 


66 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


were  equally  active,  but  the  latter  perpetually  employed  himself  in  counteracting  the 
acts  of  the  former. 

The  tortoise  expanded  more  and  more,  and  finally  became  the  earth.  Atuhentsic 
afterwards  had  a  daughter,  who  bore  two  sons,  Yos-ke-ka  and  Tho-it-sa-ron.  Yos- 
kc-ka  in  the  end  killed  his  brother,  and  afterwards  Atahentsic,  his  grandmother, 
resigned  the  government  of  the  world  to  him. 

The  Iroquois  aliirm  that  Atahentsic  is  the  same  as  the  moon,  and  Yos-ke-ka  the 
same  as  the  sun. 

These  things  are  elements  of  the  earliest  and  best  authenticated  relations.  They 
appear  to  denote  a  mixture  of  some  of  the  dogmas  of  Zoroaster,  or  the  ancient  sun- 
worship,  with  the  idolatry,  perhaps,  of  the  "  Queen  of  Heaven." 

Allegorical  TrmUtiouH  of  the  Oriyin  of  Men — of  Manabozho,  and  of  the  Intro- 
duction of  the  licligious  Mijsteries  of  the  Medical  Magic. — At  a  certain  time  a  great 
Manito  came  on  earth  and  took  a  wife  of  men.  She  had  four  sons  at  a  birth,  and 
died  in  ushering  them  into  the  world.  The  first  was  Manabozho,  who  is  the  friend 
of  the  human  race.  The  second  was  Chibiabos,  who  has  the  care  of  the  dead,  and 
j)resides  over  the  country  of  souls.  The  third  was  Wabasso,  who,  as  soon  as  he  saw 
light,  fled  to  the  North,  where  he  was  ehanged  into  a  white  rabbit,  and,  under  that 
form,  is  considered  as  a  great  spirit.  The  fourth  was  Chokanipok,  or  the  man  of  flint, 
or  the  fire-stone. 

Wherever  the  Algonkins  gathered  around  the  winter  fire  they  never  wearied  of 
roi)eating  the  story  of  Manabozho  or  Michabo,  the  Great  llare,  of  whom  they  spoke 
as  their  common  ancestor,  and  the  clan  that  bore  his  totem  was  looked  up  to  with 
j)cc'uliar  respect.  He  was  the  ])atron  and  founder  of  the  meda  worship,  the  inventor 
of  picture-writing,  the  father  and  guardian  of  their  nation,  the  ruler  of  the  winds, 
even  the  maker  and  i)reserver  of  the  world,  and  the  creator  of  the  sun  and  moon. 
From  a  grain  of  sand  brought  from  the  bottom  of  the  primeval  ocean  he  fashioned 
the  habitable  land  and  set  it  floating  on  the  waters.  Manabozho  appears  in  reality 
to  have  been  the  personification  of  the  purest  conception  the  Indian  possessed  con- 
cerning the  Deity. 

The  first  thing  Manabozho  did  when  he  grew  up  was  to  go  to  war  against  Cho- 
kanipok, whom  he  accused  of  his  mother's  death.  The  contests  between  them  were 
frightful  and  long-continued,  and  wherever  they  had  a  combat  the  face  of  nature  still 
shows  signs  of  it.  Fragments  were  cut  from  Ch()kani{)ok's  flesh,  which  were  trans- 
formed into  stones,  and  Manabozho  finally  destroyed  his  antagonist  by  tearing  out  his 
entrails,  which  were  changed  into  vines.  All  the  flint-stones  which  are  scattered  over 
the  eartii  were  produced  in  this  way,  and  tiiey  supplied  men  with  the  principle  of  fire. 

Alanabozho  was  the  author  of  arts  and  improvements.  He  taught  men  how  to 
make  ag.'ikwut.s,*  lances,  and  arrow-points,  and  all  implements  of  bone  and  stone,  and 
also  how  to  make  snares,  and  traps,  and  nets,  to  take  aiiiniiils,  and  birds,  and  fishes. 
He  and  his  brother  Chibiabos  lived  retired,  and  were  very  intimate,  planning  things 


Ax. 


LANGUAGE,  LITERATURE,  AND  PICTOGRAPHY. 


67 


for  the  good  of  men,  and  were  of  superior  and  surpa-ssing  powers  of  mind  and 
body. 

The  Manitos  who  live  in  the  air,  the  earth,  and  the  water  became  jealous  of  their 
great  power,  and  oon.spired  against  them.  Manabozho  had  warned  his  brother  against 
their  machinations,  and  cautioned  him  not  to  separate  himself  from  his  side ;  but 
one  day  Chibiabos  ventured  alone  on  (me  of  the  Great  Lakes.  It  was  winter,  and 
the  whole  surface  was  covered  with  ice.  As  soon  as  he  had  reached  the  centre  the 
malicious  Manitos  broke  the  ice  and  j)lunged  him  to  the  bottom,  where  they  hid  his 
body. 

Manabozho  wailed  along  the  shores.  He  waged  a  war  against  all  the  Manitos, 
and  precipitated  numbers  of  them  to  the  deepest  abyss.  He  called  on  the  dead  body 
of  his  brother.  He  put  the  whole  country  in  dread  by  his  lamentations.  He  then 
besmeared  his  face  with  black,  and  sat  down  six  years  to  lament,  uttering  the  name 
of  Chibiabos.  The  Manitos  consulted  what  to  do  to  appease  his  melancholy  and  his 
wrath.  The  oldest  and  wisest  of  tliem,  who  had  had  no  hand  in  the  death  of  Chi- 
biabos, oft'ered  to  undertake  the  ta.sk  of  reconciliation.  They  built  a  sacred  lodge 
close  to  that  of  Manabozho,  and  prepared  a  sumptuous  feast.  They  procured  the 
most  delicious  tobacco  and  filled  a  pipe.  They  then  assembled  in  order,  one  l)ehind 
the  other,  each  carrying  under  his  arm  a  sack  formed  of  the  skin  of  some  favor- 
ite animal,  as  a  beaver,  an  otter,  or  a  lynx,  and  filled  with  precious  and  curious 
medicines  culled  from  all  plants.  These  they  exhibited,  and  invited  him  to  the  feast 
with  pleasing  words  and  ceremonies.  He  imme<liately  raised  his  head,  uncovered  it, 
and  washed  ofl"  his  mourning  colors  and  besmearments,  and  then  followed  them. 
When  they  had  reached  the  lodge  they  offered  him  a  cup  of  liquor  prepared  from 
the  clioicest  medicines,  as  at  once  a  propitiation  and  an  initiative  rite,  lie  drank  it 
at  a  single  draught.  He  found  his  melancholy  departed,  and  felt  the  most  inspiring 
efl'ects.  They  then  commenced  their  danceii  and  songs,  united  with  various  ceremo- 
nies. Some  shook  their  bags  at  him  as  a  token  of  skill.  Home  exhibited  the  skins 
of  birds  filled  with  smaller  birds,  which,  by  some  art,  would  hop  out  of  the  throat  of 
the  bag.  Others  showed  curious  tricks  with  their  drums.  All  danced,  all  sang,  all 
acted  with  the  utmost  gravity  and  earnestness  of  gestures,  but  with  exactness  of 
time,  motion,  and  voice.  Manabozho  was  cured ;  he  ate,  danced,  sang,  and  smoked 
the  sacred  pijie.  In  this  manner  the  mysteries  of  the  Grand  Medicine-Dance  were 
introduced. 

The  hitherto  recreant  Manitos  now  all  united  their  jiowers  to  bring  Chibiabos  to 
life.  Their  efforts  were  crowned  with  success,  but  it  was  forbidilen  him  to  enter  the 
lodge.  They  gave  him,  through  a  chink,  a  burning  coal,  and  told  him  to  go  and 
presitle  over  the  country  of  souls  and  reign  over  the  land  of  the  dead.  They  bade 
him  kindle  with  the  coal  a  fire  for  his  aunts  and  uncles,  a  term  intended  to  signify 
all  men  wlio  should  die  thereafter,  and  make  them  happy,  and  let  it  be  an  everlasting 
fire. 

Manabozho  went  to  the  Great  Spirit  afVer  these  things.  He  then  descended  to 
the  earth,  and  confirmed  the  mysteries  of  the  medicine-dance,  and  supplied  all  whom 


I 


I 
I, 

19 


lip 


68 


THE  INDIAN  TlilliKS   OF   TIIH   UNITED  STATES. 


he  initiated  with  incdiciiies  for  the  cure  of  all  diseases.  It  is  to  him  that  we  owe  the 
growth  of  all  the  incdicinal  roots,  and  antidetrs  to  every  disease  and  poison,  IIo 
conunits  the  growtli  of  these  to  Alisuiviiniigaivwa,  or  the  mother  of  the  earth,  to 
whom  he  makes  oHerings. 

Manabozho  traverses  the  whole  earth,  lie  is  the  friend  of  man.  lie  killed  the 
aneient  monsters  whose  bones  we  now  see  under  the  earth,  and  cleared  the  streams 
and  forests  of  many  obstructions  which  the  Had  Spirit  had  put  there,  to  lit  them  for 
our  residence.  lie  has  placed  four  good  spirits  at  tlie  four  cardinal  points,  to  which 
we  point  in  our  ceremonies.  The  spirit  of  the  North  gives  snow  and  ice  to  enable 
men  to  pursue  game  and  fish.  The  spirit  of  the  South  gives  melons,  maize,  and 
tobacco.  The  si)irit  of  the  West  gives  rain.  The  spirit  of  the  East  gives  light,  and 
commands  the  sun  to  make  his  daily  walks  around  the  earth.  Thunder  is  the  voice 
of  these  spirits,  to  whom  we  oiler  the  smoke  of  sa-mau  (tobacco). 

Manabozho,  it  is  believed,  yet  lives  on  an  immense  Hake  of  ice  in  the  Arctic 
Ocean.  We  fear  the  white  race  will  some  day  discover  his  retreat  and  drive  him  off. 
Then  the  end  of  the  world  will  be  at  hand,  for  as  soon  as  he  i)uts  his  foot  on  the 
earth  again  it  will  take  fire,  and  every  living  creature  perisli  in  the  flames. 

Allegory  of  the  Origin  and  Ilinlori/  of  /he  Onages. — Tiie  Osages  believe  that  the 
first  man  of  their  nation  came  out  of  a  shell,  and  that  this  man  when  walking  on 
earth  met  with  the  (Jreat  Spirit,  who  asked  him  where  he  resided  and  what  he  ate. 
The  Osage  answered  that  he  had  no  place  of  residence,  and  that  he  ate  nothing. 
The  Great  Spirit  gave  him  a  bow  and  arrows,  and  told  him  to  go  a-hunting.  As 
soon  as  the  Great  Spirit  left  him  he  killed  a  deer.  The  Great  Spirit  gave  him  fire, 
and  told  him  to  cook  his  meat  and  to  eat.  He  also  told  him  to  take  the  skin  and 
cover  himself  with  it,  and  also  the  skins  of  other  animals  that  he  should  kill. 

One  day,  as  the  Osage  was  hunting,  he  cam(^  to  a  small  river  to  drink.  He  saw 
in  the  river  a  beaver-hut,  on  which  was  sitting  the  chief  of  the  family.  He  a-sked 
the  Osage  what  he  was  looking  for  so  near  his  lodge.  The  Osage  answered  that, 
being  thirsty,  he  was  forced  to  come  and  drink  at  that  j)lace.  The  beaver  then  asked 
him  who  he  was,  and  whence  he  came.  The  Osage  answered  that  he  had  come  from 
hunting,  and  that  he  had  no  place  of  residence.  "  Well,  then,"  said  the  beaver,  "as 
you  appear  to  be  a  reasonable  man,  I  wish  you  to  come  and  live  with  me.  I  have  a 
large  family,  consisting  of  many  daughters,  and  if  any  of  them  should  be  agreeable 
to  you,  you  may  marry."  The  Osage  accepted  the  offer,  and  some  time  after  mar- 
ried one  of  the  beaver's  daughters,  by  whom  he  had  many  children.  Those  children 
have  formed  the  Osage  pe(»ple.  This  marriage  of  the  Osage  with  the  beaver  has 
been  the  cause  that  the  Osages  do  not  kill  the  beaver.  They  always  supposed  that 
in  killing  the  beaver  they  were  killing  the  Osages. 

Foltawnlomie  Theology. — It  is  believed  by  the  Pottawatomies  that  there  are  two 
Great  Spirits  who  govern  the  world.  One  is  called  Kitchemonedo,  or  the  (Jreat 
Spirit,  the  other  ]\Iatclu'nionedo,  or  the  Evil  Spirit.  The  first  is  good  and  beneficent, 
the  other  wicked.  Some  believe  that  they  are  equally  powerful,  and  they  offer  them 
homage  and  adoration  through  fear.     Others  doubt  which  of  the  two  is  the  more 


LANQUAQE,  LITERATURE,  AND  I'lCTUGRM'llY. 


51) 


powerful,  and  endeavor  to  i)ropltiiitc  both.  The  greater  part,  however,  believe  that 
Kitehenionedo  is  the  true  (Jreat  Spirit  who  nmdo  the  world  and  called  all  things 
into  being,  and  that  Matclu'iuonedo  ought  to  be  despised. 

When  Kitohemonedo  first  nmde  the  world  he  lilled  it  with  a  class  of  beings  who 
only  looked  like  men,  but  they  were  perverse,  ungrateful,  wicked  dogs,  who  never 
raised  their  eyes  from  the  ground  to  thank  iiim  for  anything.  Seeing  this,  the  Great 
Spirit  plunged  them,  with  the  world  itself,  into  a  groat  lake,  and  drowmd  them.  He 
then  withdrew  it  from  the  watci',  and  made  a  single  man,  a  very  handsome  young 
man,  who,  as  he  was  lonesome,  a])peured  sad.  Kitchemonedo  took  2»ity  on  him,  and 
sent  him  a  sister  to  cheer  him  in  his  loneliness. 

After  many  years  tlie  young  man  had  a  dream,  which  lie  told  to  his  sister.  "Five 
young  men,"  said  he,  "  will  come  to  your  lodgo-door  this  night  to  visit  you.  The 
Great  Spirit  forbids  you  to  answer  or  even  look  up  and  smile  at  the  first  four ;  but 
when  the  fifth  comes  you  may  speak  and  laugh  and  show  that  you  are  i)leased." 
She  acted  accordingly.  The  first  of  tlus  five  strangers  that  called  was  Usama,  or 
tobacco,  and,  having  been  repulsed,  he  fell  down  and  died ;  the  second,  Wapako,  or 
the  pumpkin,  the  third,  Eshkossimin,  or  the  melon,  and  the  fourth,  Kokees,  or  the 
bean,  met  the  same  fate.  But  when  Tamin,  or  Montamin,  which  is  maize,  presented 
himself,  she  opened  the  skin  tajtestry  door  of  her  lodge,  and  laughed  very  heartily, 
and  gave  him  a  friendly  recejjtion.  They  were  immediately  nuirried,  and  from  this 
union  the  Indians  sprang.  Tamin  forthwith  buried  the  four  unsuccessful  suitors, 
and  from  their  graves  there  grew  tobacco,  j)umpkins,  melons  of  all  sorts,  and  beans; 
and  in  this  manner  the  Great  Spirit  provided  that  the  race  which  he  had  made  should 
have  something  to  offer  him  as  a  gift  in  their  feasts  and  ceremonies,  and  also  some- 
thing to  j)ut  into  their  akeeks,  or  kettles,  along  with  their  meat. 

The  Island  of  the  Blessed ;  or  the  Hunter's  J)reatn. — There  was  once  a  beautiful 
girl,  who  died  suddenly  on  the  day  she  was  to  have  been  married  to  a  handsome 
young  hunter,  lie  had  also  proved  his  bravery  in  war,  so  that  he  enjoyed  the  praises 
of  his  tribe;  but  his  heart  was  not  proof  against  this  loss.  From  the  hour  slie  was 
buried  there  was  no  more  joy  or  peace  for  him.  lie  went  often  to  visit  the  spot 
where  the  women  had  buried  her,  and  sat  musing  there,  when  it  was  thought  by  some 
of  his  friends  he  woukl  have  done  better  to  try  and  anmse  himself  in  the  cluuse  or 
by  diverting  his  thoughts  in  the  war-path.  liut  war  ami  hunting  had  lost  their 
charms  for  him.  His  heart  was  already  dead  within  him.  He  wholly  neglected 
both  his  war-club  and  his  bows  and  arrows. 

He  had  heard  the  old  people  say  that  there  was  a  path  that  led  to  the  land  of 
souls,  and  he  determined  to  follow  it.  He  accordingly  set  out  one  morning,  after 
having  completed  his  preparations  for  the  journey.  At  first  he  hardly  knew  which 
way  to  go.  He  was  only  guided  by  the  tradition  that  he  must  go  south.  For  a 
wiiiU'  he  coukl  see  no  ciiange  in  the  face  of  the  country.  Forests,  and  hills,  and 
valleys,  and  streams,  had  the  same  looks  which  they  bore  in  his  native  place.  There 
was  snow  on  tiie  ground  when  he  set  out,  and  it  was  sometimes  seen  to  be  piled  and 
matted  on  the  thick  trees  and  bushes.     At  length  it  began  to  diminish,  and,  as  he 


'  i  5, 


60 


THE  INDIAN  TlilRES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


walked  on,  finally  disiippciiri'd.  Tlio  forcHt  hhhuhuhI  a  more  chci'i-fiil  ii|i|)('iiranpo,  the 
loaveH  put  forth  tlu'ir  hiidn,  and  lu'Cort!  he  wan  awaro  of  tho  coMiplctonosH  of  the 
thanirc.  he  found  he  had  left  behiiul  hitu  the  laud  of  kuow  and  lee.  The  air  heeanio 
pure  and  mild,  the  dark  ehmdn  had  rolled  away  from  the  nky,  a  pure  field  of  blue 
was  above  him,  and  aa  he  went  forward  in  his  journey  he  naw  llowera  bewide  hi« 
path  and  heard  the  song  of  birds.  Hy  these  signs  ho  knew  that  he  was  going  tho 
right  way,  for  they  agreed  with  the  traditions  of  his  tribe.  At  length  he  spied  ii 
path.  It  took  him  thnaigh  u  grove,  then  up  a  long  and  elevated  ridge,  on  the  very 
top  of  whieh  he  eamc  to  a  lodge.  At  the  (h)or  stood  an  old  num  with  white  hair, 
whoso  eyes,  though  deeply  sunk,  had  a  fiery  brillianey.  He  had  a  long  rolxi  of  skins 
thrown  loosely  around  his  shoulders,  and  a  staff  in  his  hands. 

The  young  man  began  to  tell  his  story,  but  the  venerable  ehief  arrested  him  be- 
fore he  had  proeeeded  to  speak  ten  words.  "  I  have  expeeted  you,"  he  replied,  "and 
had  just  risen  to  bid  you  weleome  to  my  abode.  She  whom  you  seek  passed  hero 
but  u  short  time  sinee,  and,  being  fatigued  with  her  journey,  rested  herself  here. 
Enter  my  lodge  and  be  seated,  and  I  will  then  satisfy  your  incjuiries,  and  give  you 
direetions  for  your  journey  from  this  point."  Having  tlone  this,  and  refreshed  him- 
self by  rest,  they  both  issued  forth  from  the  lodge  door.  "  You  see  yonder  gulf," 
said  the  old  man,  "and  the  wide-stretehing  i)lain  beyond:  it  is  the  land  of  souls. 
You  stand  upon  its  borders,  and  my  lodge  is  the  gatts  of  entranee,  lUit  you  cannot 
take  your  body  along.  Leave  it  here  with  your  bow  and  arrows,  your  bundle,  and 
your  dog.  You  will  find  them  sate  upon  your  return."  So  saying,  he  re-entered  tho 
lodge,  and  the  freed  traveller  bounded  forward  as  if  his  feet  had  suddenly  been  en- 
dowed with  the  power  of  wings.  ]{ut  all  things  retained  their  natural  eolors  and 
shai)es.  The  woods  and  leaves,  and  streams  and  lakes,  were  only  more  bright  and 
comely  than  he  had  ever  witnessed.  Aninuds  bounded  across  his  path  with  a  freedom 
and  confidence  which  seemed  to  tell  him  there  wjia  no  bloodshed  there.  IJirtls  of 
beautiful  plunuige  inhabited  the  groves  and  sported  in  the  waters.  There  was  but 
one  thing  in  which  he  saw  a  very  uiuisual  effect.  He  noticed  that  his  passage  was 
not  stopped  by  trees  or  other  objects.  He  appeared  to  walk  directly  through  them  : 
they  were,  in  fact,  but  the  inuiges  or  shadows  of  material  forms.  He  became  sensible 
that  he  was  in  tho  land  of  souls. 

When  he  had  travelled  half  a  day's  journey,  through  a  country  which  waa  con- 
tinually becoming  more  attractive,  he  came  to  tlie  banks  of  a  broad  lake,  in  the  centre 
of  which  was  a  large  and  beautiful  island.  He  found  a  canoe  of  white  shiiung  stone, 
tied  to  the  shore.  He  wsus  now  sun!  that  he  had  come  the  right  path,  for  the  aged 
man  had  told  him  of  this.  There  were  also  shining  paddles.  He  immediately  entered 
the  canoe,  and  took  the  paddles  in  his  hands,  when,  to  his  joy  and  surprise,  ou  turn- 
ing round  he  beheld  the  object  of  his  search  in  another  canoe,  exactly  its  counterpart 
in  everything.  It  seemed  to  be  the  shadow  of  his  own.  She  had  exactly  imitated 
his  motions,  and  they  were  side  by  side.  They  at  once  pushed  out  from  the  shore, 
and  began  to  cross  the  lake.  Its  waves  seemed  to  be  rising,  and,  at  a  distance, 
looked  ready  to  swallow  them  up;  but  just  as  they  entered  the  whitened  edge  of 


'I 


LANGUAGE,  LITERATUiiE,  AND  PICTOGRAPnY. 


61 


them,  they  seemed  t(*  melt  away,  as  if  they  were  but  tlie  images  of  waves.  But  no 
sooner  was  one  wreath  of  foam  passed,  tluin  another,  more  threatening  still,  rose  up. 
Thus  they  were  in  jierpetual  fear ;  but  what  added  to  it  was  the  clearness  of  the 
water,  through  which  they  could  see  heaps  of  the  bones  of  beings  who  had  perished 
before. 

The  Master  of  Life  had,  however,  decreed  to  let  them  pass,  for  the  thoughts  and 
acts  of  neither  of  them  had  been  bad.  But  they  saw  many  others  struggling  and 
sinking  in  the  waves.  Old  men  and  young  men,  males  and  females,  of  all  ages  and 
ranks,  wore  tliere :  some  pitssed  and  some  sank.  It  was  only  tlie  little  children 
whose  canoes  seemed  to  meet  no  waves.  At  length  every  difficulty  was  gone,  as  in 
a  moment,  and  they  both  leaped  out  on  the  happy  island.  They  felt  that  the  very 
air  was  food.  It  strengthencil  and  nourished  them.  They  wandered  together  ovei- 
the  blissful  fields,  where  everything  was  formed  to  please  the  eye  and  the  car. 
There  were  no  tempests ;  there  was  no  ice,  nor  chilly  winds ;  no  one  shivered  for 
the  want  of  warm  clothes ;  no  one  suffered  for  hunger ;  no  one  mourned  for  the  dead. 
They  saw  no  graves.  Ihoy  heard  of  no  wars.  Animals  ran  freely  about,  but  there 
was  no  blood  spilled  in  hunting  them;  for  the  air  itself  nourished  them.  Gladly 
would  the  young  warrior  ha\e  remained  there  forever,  but  he  was  obliged  to  go  back 
for  his  body.  He  did  not  see  the  Ma.ster  of  Life,  but  he  heard  his  voice,  as  if  it 
were  a  soft  breeze.  "  Go  back,"  said  tiiis  voice,  "  to  the  land  whence  you  came. 
Your  time  has  not  yet  come.  The  duties  for  which  I  made  you,  and  which  you  ars 
to  perform,  are  not  yet  finished.  Return  to  your  people,  and  accomplish  the  acts  of 
a  good  man.  You  will  be  the  ruler  of  your  tribe  for  many  days.  The  rules  you 
will  observe  will  be  told  you  by  my  messenger,  who  keeps  the  gate.  When  he  sur- 
renders back  your  body,  he  will  toll  you  what  to  do.  Listen  to  him,  and  you  shall 
afterwards  rejoin  the  spirit  whom  you  have  followed,  but  whom  you  must  now  leave 
behind.  She  is  accepted,  and  will  be  ever  here,  as  young  and  as  happy  as  she  was 
when  I  first  called  her  from  the  land  of  snows." 

When  this  voice  cea.sed,  the  narrator  awoke.  It  was  the  fancy  work  of  a  dream, 
and  he  was  still  in  the  bitter  land  of  snows  and  hunger,  death  and  tears. 


PICTOGRAPHY. 


One  of  the  peculiar  object*!  of  art  of  the  Indians,  which  have  attracted  notice  at 
various  periods,  is  thc'r  system  of  ideographic  devices,  or  pictographic  drawings,  by 
moans  of  which  they  aim  to  preserve  the  memory  of  names,  events,  and  ideas.  Tliis 
was  one  of  the  earliest  inscriptive  arts  of  man  in  the  Kastern  hemisphere,  and  is 
inseparable  from  the  ancient  rise  of  idolatry.  The  figures  of  the  sun  and  moon  were 
originally  symltols  of  Deity.  Baal  was  drawn  with  the  head  of  a  man  and  the  horns 
and  oars  of  an  o.x.  It  was  one  of  tho  earliest  idetis  of  the  Oriental  na'ions  that  the 
spirit  of  divinity  concealed  itself  in  the  form  of  some  object  of  animated  nature,  or 
even  in  vegetable  life,  llonce  tho  Xilotic  nations  placed  tho  incarnation  in  an  ibis,  a 
crocodile,  a  cat,  or  a  calf,  and  even  in  a  look,  and  the  form  was  not  long,  with  these 


i 


62 


TUE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


tribes,  in  taking  the  place  in  their  estimates  of  the  substance,  as  figures  of  the  turtle, 
bear,  and  wolf  do  here.  That  the  Indian  tribes  should  have  covered  the  land  from 
Massachusetts  Bay  to  Oregon  with  similar  gods,  under  similar  ideas  and  similar 
deceptions,  is  not  strange,  and  the  fact  becomes  less  an  object  of  surprise  when  it  is 
perceived  from  their  languages  and  cosmogony  that  in  these  traits  they  possess  the 
characteristics  of  very  old  nations.  The  exploits  of  warriors  are  often  de])icted  in 
their  representative  symbols,  on  dressed  bufl'alo-skius,  which  are  worn  as  state  dresses. 
The  Micmacs  of  New  England  had  the  most  distinct  system  of  hieroglyi)liics,  and  the 
only  one  that  the  Eurojieans  were  able  to  adapt  and  employ. 

The  tribes  applied  the  system  of  symbols  as  marks  of  notation  to  convey  to  each 
other  several  kinds  of  forest  information.  By  this  s])ecies  of  note-craft  the  hunter 
who  had  killed  a  deer,  a  bear,  or  a  moose  denoted  that  fact  by  drawing  the  figure  of 
the  animal  on  a  tree,  a  tabular  i^icce  of  wood,  or  a  scroll  of  the  bark  of  the  Betula 
I)apyracea.  He  placed  beside  this  device  the  figure  of  his  forest  arms,  and  crowned 
the  inscription  by  drawing  over  it  his  totem,  or  the  device  of  his  clan,  or  family  name. 
His  meda,  or  magician,  informed  him  that  he  could  disclose  an  art  by  means  of  which 
the  hunter  might  always  lely  on  killing  deer,  bears, or  moose.  It  was  no  other  secret 
than  to  apply  the  art  of  magic  to  these  figures,  whereby  he  would  possess  the  power  of 
controlling  tiie  motions  of  tiiese  animals  and  of  bringing  them  into  his  path.  Thus 
hunting  Avas  pursued  by  the  art  of  necromancy  ;  and  the  meda,  or  magician,  increased 
his  power  and  im]vjrtance  by  the  revelation  of  secret  knowledge.  The  teacher  of 
this  art  taught  his  pupils  a  song,  which  he  wiis  cautioned  to  sing  with  due  tone, 
chorus,  and  geuuilections,  while  the  arts  of  the  incantation  were  being  communicated 
or  practised. 

The  Indian  jossakeed,  or  projihet,  taught  him  a  higher  stej)  in  pictography,  by 
means  of  which,  under  his  influence,  the  mystery  of  the  spiritual  world  eoukl  be 
opened,  future  events  foretold,  and  even  the  great  arcanum  of  the  book  of  fate 
<jj)ened.  Other  classes  of  knowledge,  or  facts,  in  Indian  life,  were  recorded  by  the 
system  of  itleographic  i)iet()graphs.  It  is  true  that  there  was  no  art  whatever  of 
preserving  sounds  by  these  symbols.  It  merely  recalled,  by  the  juxtaposition  of 
figures,  a  succession  of  concrete  ideas.  Tliesi'  symbols  becauK;  appeals,  through  the 
(ye,  to  the  memory.  In  this  manner  the  Indian  pr^'ficicnt  in  the  art  of  the  IcrL-ccwtii 
reads  oft'  his  figures,  and  chants  them  in  due  setpience,  with  tune  and  emphasis.  This 
syst'.'Ui,  for  the  dift'erent  forms  of  which  the  Indian  has  difierenf  names,  is  often 
ac(piired  by  the  devotion  of  much  time,  many  payments,  and  great  perscvenince. 
it  was  observed  that  the  figures  of  a  deer,  a  iH'ar,  a  turtle,  ami  a  crane,  ai'conling  ti> 
this  system,  stand  respectively  for  the  names  of  men,  and  preserve  the  language  very 
well,  by  yielding  to  the  per-son  conversant  with  it  the  corresponding  words,  of  ar/</;VX', 
inuckwa,  inickcnack,  and  ailjccjauk.  ^larks,  circles,  dots,  and  drawings  (if  various 
kinds  were  emj)loyed  to  symbolize  the  number  (»f  warlike  deeds.  Adjunct  devices 
appeared  to  typify  or  explain  adjunct  acts.  The  character  itself  they  called  kckcc- 
wln.  Oi'tvn  these  devices  are  cut,  or  drawn  in  ciilors,  (ui  tlie  trnnks  of  trees,  more 
rarely  on  rocks  or  boulders,  when  tiny  are  culled  iiuiz^iml/iiks.    Accurding  to  Colden 


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LANGUAGE,  LITERATURE,  AND  PICTOGRAPHY. 


G3 


and  Laritau,  records  of  thia  rude  character  were  formerly  to  be  seen,  on  the  blazed 
Burface  of  trees,  along  the  ancient  paths  and  portages  leading  from  the  sources  of  the 
rivers  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  which  flow  into  the  Atlantic,  and  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Pictorial  drawings  and  symbols  of  this  kind  are  now  to 
be  found  only  on  the  unreclaimed  borders  of  the  great  area  west  of  the  Alleghanies 
and  the  Lakes,  in  the  wide  prairies  of  the  West,  or  along  the  Missouri  and  the  Upper 
iMississippi.  It  is  known  that  such  devices  were  in  use,  to  some  extent,  at  the  era 
of  the  discovery,  among  most  of  the  tribes  situated  between  the  latitudes  of  the 
capes  of  Florida  and  Hudson  Bay,  although  they  have  been  considered  as  more 
|)articularly  characteristic  of  the  tribes  of  the  Algonkin  type.  In  a  few  instances 
these  simple  pictorial  inscriptions  have  been  found  to  partake  of  a  monumental  cast, 
by  being  painted  or  stained  on  the  faces  of  rocks,  or  on  large  loose  stones  on  the 
banks  of  streams ;  and,  still  more  rarely,  devices  were  scratched  or  pecked  into  the 
surface,  as  is  found  on  Cunningham's  Island,  in  Lake  Erie,  and  in  the  valley  of  the 
Alleghany,  at  Venango.  Those  who  are  intent  on  observations  of  this  kind  will  find 
figur&s  and  rude  inscriptions,  at  the  present  time,  on  the  grave-posts  which  mark  the 
places  of  Indian  sepulture  at  the  West  and  North.  The  tribes  who  rove  over  the 
Western  prairies  inscribe  them  on  the  skins  of  the  buffalo.  North  of  latitude 
«12°,  the  southern  limit  of  the  birch,  which  furnishes  the  material  of  canoes,  wig- 
wams, boxes,  and  other  articles,  and  constitutes,  in  fact,  the  Indian  paper,  tablets  of 
hard  wood  are  confined  to  devices  which  are  hieratic  and  are  employed  alone  by 
their  priests,  prophets,  and  medicine-men;  and  these  characters  unil  irmly  assume  a 
mystical  or  sacred  import.  The  recent  discovery  on  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the 
Susquehanna  of  an  Indian  map  drawn  on  stone,  with  intermixed  devices,  a  copy  of 
which  appears  in  the  first  volume  of  the  collections  of  the  Historical  Committee  oi 
the  American  Philosophical  Society,  Philadelphia,  proves,  although  it  is  thus  far 
isolated,  that  stone  was  also  employed  in  that  branch  of  inscription.  This  discovery 
was  in  the  area  occupied  by  the  Lenapes,  who  are  known  to  have  practised  the  art, 
which  they  called  Ola  Walum. 

Picture-writing,  their  only  graphic  mode  of  communicating  ideas,  is  indeed  the 
literature  of  the  Indians.  It  cannot  be  interpreted,  however  rudely,  without  letting 
one  know  what  the  lied  Man  thinks  and  believes.  It  shadows  forth  the  Indian 
intellect,  standing  in  the  place  of  letters  for  the  unishinaba.  It  shows  the  Red  Man, 
in  all  periods  of  our  history,  both  as  he  was  and  as  he  is;  for  there  is  nothing  more 
true  than  that,  except  in  the  comparatively  few  instiinces  where  they  have  truly 
embraced  experimental  Christianity,  there  has  not  been,  beyond  a  few  customs,  such 
as  dress  and  other  externals,  any  appreciable  and  permanent  change  in  the  Indian 
character  since  Columbus  first  dropped  anchor  at  the  island  of  Guanahani. 


1 


■1 


CHAPTER    III. 

INDIAN  ART,  INDUSTRY,  AND  MEDICAL  KNOWLEDOB. 

Canoes — MuNicnl  Instrumonfj) — Fire  by  IVrcuwion — Trituration  of  Mnito — I'rcpnrntion  of  Spear-  and  Arrow- 
Ilcadfl — Hiindicraft  of  Oregon  Tribes — Curing  of  Sliins— Wnr-Club — Oor^ct,  or  Rlodul — Corn-l'estio — 
Coin — Biiliiata — Aniulota — Antiiiuo  Jnvelin — Antique  Earlhcnwnro  of  tlio  I'ucbloa — Domestic  ilondi- 
craft  of  the  Pueblos — Navajo  HIankctJi — Spinning  and  Weaving  of  the  Navajos — Medical  Knowledge. 


Art  had  evinced  itself  at  an  early  j)eriod,  in  the  somi-civilized  tribes  of  the 
Southern  division  of  this  continent,  in  peculiar  and  remarkable  forms.  These  forms, 
lus  they  existed  in  the  aboriginal  stocks  of  Peru  and  Mexico,  have  been  the  toj)ic  of 
frequent  description.  There  has  been,  perhaps,  a  tendency  from  the  beginning  to 
over-estimate  what  was  certainly  surprising  in  the  attainments  made  by  these  tribes. 
The  chief  (piestion  with  respect  to  them  has  been,  whether  these  conditions  of  art  are 
to  be  regarded  as  natural  development^  of  the  aboriginal  mind  here,  or  as  having 
had  their  impulsive  elements  of  mechanical  skill  or  knowledge  from  antitpu;  foreign 
sources.  These  forms  of  Imlian  art  have  also  been  made  standards  of  comparison,  us 
they  appear  to  be  j)rototypes  for  the  urchieological  remains  and  vestiges  of  art  found 
among  the  Northern  tribes. 

So  far  as  relates  to  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  United  States,  the  types  of  the  South- 
ern forms  of  structural  art  are  recognized.  They  are  perceived  in  the  large  religio- 
civic  mounds,  or  teocallis,  and  in  the  earthworks,  fortifications  of  village  sites,  the 
escarpment  of  hills,  and  the  eccentric  circumvallations  on  river-banks  and  alluvial 
tracts  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Tlie  great  respect  and  veneration  siiown  by  the 
Southern  tribes  for  their  dead,  by  the  erection  of  graves,  barrows,  and  tumuli,  is 
equally  a  trait  characteristic  of  the  North  American  tribes.  Throughout  the  Flo- 
ridian  regions,  and  the  Mississippi  Valley,  extending  to  the  Great  Lakes,  and  even  to 
the  area  of  New  England,  the  j)ublic  labors  of  the  Indians  were  concentrated  on  this 
object,  the  principal  difference  being  that  both  the  personal  and  village  tumuli  were 
smaller  in  the  area  of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  as  if  the 
decrease  in  size  were  in  proportion  to  the  distance  from  the  primitive  seats  of  the 
parent  mound-building  tribes.  Nor  were  there  wanting  in  these  Northern  structures 
occasional  instances  of  the  partial  employment  of  unhewn  stone,  derived  both  from 
the  horizontal  and  boulder  drift  strata,  limited,  however,  to  cases  where  the  material 
was  contiguous.  But,  as  a  general  fact,  the  architectural  skill  of  the  Northern  tribes 
vfiis  so  greatly  inferior  and  rude,  or  undeveloped,  as  to  have  misled  oj)inion  on  the 
general  character  an<l  homogeneousness  of  the  type  of  art.  AVitliout  srirching  for 
this  inferior  state  of  art  in  remote  causes,  it  is  iK'lieved  to  be  siinu'lcMtly  accounted 
04 


C'riiyyiYlA    L"DC,£.;, 


JS'DIAN  ART,  ISDISTRY,  AND   MEDICAL  KNOWLEDGE. 


66 


for  in  the  Nortliorn  tribes,  tlinugii  possessing  greater  personal  activity  and  love  of 
ficedom,  in  the  fact  that  they  were  nomadic  in  tlieir  habits.  They  roved  period- 
ically over  vast  tracts  in  quest  of  game,  and  were  fascinated  at  once  by  the  charm 
of  the  wild  independence  of  the  cha^'e  and  the  pursuit  of  the  distinction  and  savage 
glory  of  war. 

J3y  adopting  agriculture,  the  Peruvian  and  Mexican  tribes  became  stationary. 
The  time  before  devoted  to  the  wasting  but  alluring  pursuits  of  hunting  was  given 
to  the  care  of  fields  and  the  peaceful  labors  of  raising  grain.  Large  bodies  of  In- 
dians could  thus  support  themselves  in  small  areas  of  fertile  territory.  It  became 
practicable  to  form  populous  towns,  Avhich  being  under  the  government  of  hereditary 
chiefs,  or  caciques,  who  exercised  absolute  control,  i»iiblic  works  could  be  made,  roads 
and  aqueducts  could  be  constructed  at  the  will  ot  ihe  rulers,  temples  and  teocallis 
could  be  erected,  and  thus,  in  the  passage  of  centurie.'!,  the  state  of  these  semi-civil- 
ized governments  rose  to  that  pitch  of  rude  magnificence  and  barbaric  attainment  in 
wliich  Euro{)C  found  them  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century.  At  any  rate,  these 
were  supposable  causes  for  the  diflerences  in  the  state  of  art  of  a  generic  race  who 
were  clearly  one  in  everything  else. 

In  comparing  the  two  grades  of  art  of  the  tropical  and  torrid  and  the  temperate 
latitudes  of  the  American  continent,  it  is  demonstrated  that  their  constructive  and 
mechanical  j)owers  were  much  unlilvc.  It  was  so  witli  respect  to  the  idea  of  tlie 
pvraniid, — the  incipient  arts  of  sculpture  and  painting  and  picture-writing ;  this 
generic  similarity  has  evinced  itself  with  all  the  tribes  who  have,  more  or  less, 
ji(l(i|>ii'(l  a;;riculture  and  adiiercd  to  furms  of  aristocratic  government.  Yet  the  mind 
of  the  Indian,  in  tliesiinplc  Ainjihict} oiiic  or  deliberative  forms  of  the  North,  sliows 
itself  as  enu-rtainiiig  the  same  ideas  of  architectural  ait  clustering  itself  around  a 
|iiiblic  sijuare.  Tlieie  is  a  characteristic  pluusis  of  mind  in  both  groups  of  tribes  in 
tlie  erection  of  tumuli  and  repositories  for  the  dead,  and  of  terraced  structures  for 
the  residences  of  the  cliiets,  who  here  also  united  the  political  and  religious  power. 
In  liotli  hemis|)heres  the  sun  appears  to  have  been  origi'nilly  the  great  object  of 
worship.  Sacrifices  were  alike  offered,  either  on  tlie  tojis  of  artificial  cones  of  earth, 
or  on  the  elevated  parts  of  hills,  overlooking  extensive  plains  or  valleys.  So  far  us 
regarded  art  in  the  resistance  of  military  force,  the  effort  was  chiefly  directed  in  both 
regions  to  segregate  coiiimanding  natural  jXMiinsnlas,  forming  often  a  military  t<ilus, 
and  to  encircle  the  brows  of  einine'ices  or  al»rii|)t  defiles  with  pickets.  The  opinion 
has  indeed  been  advanced,  from  tli'ir  rude  and  general  coincidence  of  structure,  that 
the  Northern  vestiges  of  Indian  art  arc  the  true  prototypes  of  its  Southern  forms  in 
Mexico.  SpeeimetiM  of  the  various  forms  of  th^  ThiscalaiA  gateway  are  numerous 
among  the  Indian  earth-works  in  Ohio. 

Indian  art  in  the  United  States,  in  addition  to  the  general  purposes  of  worship 
and  defence  adverted  to,  has  busied  itself  on  objects  essential  to  the  forest  wants.  No 
objects  of  art  have  more  exercised  the  ingenuity  of  the  Indians  than  their  canoes, 
wigwams,  and  dwelling-places  of  various  kinds,  lit  the  annexed  engraving  the  two 
extremes  of  this  art  are  exhibited  ;  namely,  the  ( 'iiippcwa  lodge  as  it  exists  in  the  Lake 


66 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 


region,  and  the  Creek  house  in  its  best  state  of  native  improvement  in  1790.  Tlie 
canoe  of  the  Southern  latitudes  differs  little  fnmi  the  monoxyla  of  the  ancients.  It  is 
merely  the  trunk  of  a  tree  exeavated.  But  the  light  and  shajiely  vessel  constructed 
from  the  rind  of  the  Betula  papyracoa  exhibits  a  degree  of  art  i'nd  ingenuity  which 
has  been  univer-sally  admired.  Both  tlie  Chippewa  and  Ottawa  tribes  are  noted  for 
their  skill  in  making  and  their  boldness  in  navigating  the  lakes  in  these  frail  vessels 
of  bark.  It  is  rather  in  the  latter  respect  that  the  Ottawaa  claim  pre-eminence.  In 
one  of  these  frail  barks,  with  a  short  mast  and  blanket  sail,  they  sweep,  as  on  the 
"wings  of  the  wind,"  out  of  the  Straits  of  Michilimackinac,  and  have  no  hesitancy  in 
crossing  the  wide  expanse  of  Lake  Huron.  That  this  vessel  may  be  contrasted  with 
ti>e  ancient  balza  of  the  South  Pacific  tribes,  the  figure  of  that  ingenious  structure  is 
at  the  same  time  presented.  Two  species  of  their  handicraft  contrivances  have  chiefly 
occujiied  the  Indian  mind, — namely,  instruments  for  killing  their  enemies  and  for 
capturing  beasts  and  fishes.  In  the  first  dej)artment  the  arrows  of  different  forms,  the 
stone  lunette  or  skull-piercer,  the  spear  of  jasper  or  hornstone,  and  the  stone  chib  or 
ballista  (large  or  small),  have  claims  to  antiquity  before  the  iron  tomahawk,  or  any 
kind  of  axe  of  that  metal,  knife,  or  metallic  jacula  or  dart.  Im])lemcnts  of  l>one  and 
of  the  solid  part  of  sea-shells  have  the  same  claims  to  priority  of  anticpiity.  It  is  the 
same  with  pii)es  and  other  sculptures  of  serpentine  steatite,  silicious  pestles  of  grau- 
wakke,  the  primary  forest  cooking-pot,  and  other  rude  forms  of  pottery.  The  tips  of 
the  horns  of  tlie  deer,  elk,  and  moose,  tied  to  a  wooden  handle,  were  employed  at  the 
earliest  periods  for  j)iercing  orifices  through  the  ice  in  the  lakes  and  rivers  of  North- 
ern latitudes,  and  this  instrument  is  the  protolyjie  of  the  modern  ice-cutter  of  iron, 
which  in  the  Algonkin  retains  its  old  name  of  (iLi/i/cini.  Ornaments  were  fabricated 
from  folia  of  mica,  from  small  and  shining  univalves,  and  from  fossil  red  aluminouH 
and  n\ixed  minerals.  Knives  were  formed  fron\  pieces  of  olisidian,  chert,  hornstone, 
or  even  flie  hard  joints  of  the  common  cane  of  the  Mississippi  X'alley.  Chisels  and 
axes  of  native  copjier  were  in  common  use  thronghout  America,  and  are  believed  to 
have  constituted  on?  (»f  the  commonest  articles  of  native  exchanges  of  the  era.  Some 
of  these  chisels  or  blades  of  copper  were  tied  to  firm  handles,  constituting  an  agri- 
cultural implement  answering  the  purpose  of  a  garden-spade,  with  which  the  land 
was  eidtivated.  Such  articles  have  been  recently  found  in  the  Miami  N'aliey,  Ohio. 
Canocn  of  liork. — A  special  object  wliicli  has  stinudated  the  ingenuity  of  the 
Northern  Indians  is  bark  canoes.  These  are  maile  from  the  rind  of  the  Betida 
papyracea,  from  which  it  is  peeled  in  large  rolls.  These  rolls  are  brought  to  the 
place  where  the  canoe  is  to  In-  constructed.  .\  frame,  which  is  called  ifo/tan'r  by  the 
( 'anadian  French,  is  then  suspended  by  four  stout  posts.  This  indicates  the  inner 
form  and  length  of  the  vessel.  ( Junwales  are  then  constructed  of  cedar  wood,  which 
sustain  ribs  of  the  same  material,  that  are  arranged  closely  from  its  bows  to  its  stern. 
The  next  })roeess  is  to  sheathe  the  ribs  with  thin,  fiat,  and  flexilMe  pieces  of  cedar, 
place(I  longitudinally.  The  sheathing  of  bark  is  then  adjusted,  and  sewed  together 
by  means  of  a  .«quare-hladed  awl,  and  thread  composed  of  the  (ihrous  roots  of  the 
cedar,  called  iratnh,  which  are  .soaked  in  hot  water.     The  seams  are  then   pitched 


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INDIAN  ART,  INDUSTRY,  AND   MEDICAL  KNOWLEDGE. 


67 


with  boiled  and  prepared  gum.  from  the  pitch  pine,  which  is  paid  on  witli  a  small 
swab.  The  bow  and  stern,  which  are  recurved,  are  usually  decorated  with  figures 
of  animals,  or  other  pictographi*'  devices.  This  art  of  canoe-building  of  bark  i.s 
peculiar  to  the  Algonkins,  who  evince  skill  and  taste  in  the  construction.  There 
arc  canoes  of  all  lengths,  from  a  hunting  canoe  of  two  fathoms  (twelve  feet),  man- 
aged by  two  persons,  to  the  canot  de  maU/r,  the  largest  known  to  the  fur-trade, 
which  is  thirty-six  feet  long  and  reqnires  fourteen  paddles.  The  lightness  of  this 
vessel  is  one  of  its  peculiar  proi)erties,  a  canoe  of  the  former  kind  being  readily 
carried  by  one  person. 

Figs.  1,  2,  3,  4,  Plate  9,  exhibit  this  fabric  in  various  positions  and  conditions. 
Fig.  5  exhibits  the  ordinary  wooden  canoe,  nuide  from  an  entire  trunk,  such  as  is 
employed  by  the  more  southerly  and  westerly  tribes. 

Mufical  Indnonents. — Plate  11  exhibits  the  various  musical  instruments  of  our 
Western  Indians.  Nos.  1,  2,  .'J,  depict  the  heavy  and  light  drums  used  in  war, 
religious  ceremonies,  and  anniscments.  The  gourd-rattle,  the  shc-she-gwitn  of  the 
Algonkins,  is  shown  in  Figs.  5,  (J,  7,  H  the  latter  of  which  is  distinguished  as  the 
turtle-shell  rattle'  In  No.  7  the  war-dance  rattle  is  shown,  which  is  made  by 
angular  pieces  of  deers'  hoofs,  suspended  to  a  stick. 

The  i)U)-hc-(jwun,  or  j)ipe  (8  anu  i)),  consists  of  semi-c^'lindrical  pieces  of  cedar, 
glued  together.  Often  they  are  further  boinid  together  by  rings  of  pewter.  The 
Cliippewas  frequently  draw  a  snake's  skin  over  the  cedar  tube.  It  is  blown  as  a 
ilageolet,  and  has  live,  six,  or  seven  key-holes.'* 

In  keeping  time  in  their  songs  and  dances,  a  point  in  which  the  Indians  are  very 
precise,  a  notched  stick  is  sometimes  drawn  on  a  resisting  medium,  being  supported 
l)y  a  reversed  pan  (Fig.  11,  Plate  11)  or  the  shell  of  a  gourd. 

Indian  musit-  is  very  simple.  It  consists  of  about  four  notes.  The  choruses  are 
many  and  very  regular,  and  are  sung  in  the  highest  strains  of  the  voice.  The  Indian 
llute  is  made  of  two  pieces  of  cedar,  half  nmnd,  then  hollowed  out  (piite  thin,  with 
four  holes  in  it,  and  glued  together.  Tiiey  blow  it  at  the  end.  The  upper  hole  has 
a  regulator,  a  small  roll  of  buckskin,  a  little  below  tlie  hole.  It  is  raised  or  lowered, 
and  the  i)0wer  of  the  note  is  all'ected  by  so  doing.  Tiiey  have  two  kinds  of  drums. 
One  is  made  like  a  tambourine,  with  a  skin  drawn  over  a  keg.  The  rattle  is  a 
gourd-sliell  with  beads  in  it.  Sometimes  they  make  theni  of  birch  bark.  They 
make  rattk's  of  the  claws  of  the  deer.  Of  these,  they  take  two  or  three  hundred,  and 
bore  small  iioles  in  the  narrow  end,  and  tie  them  to  a  short  stick,  jerkhig  them  up 
and  down  to  make  them  rattle. 

JLd-iii'/  Jure  bi/  Friction. — It  is  impos>^i!>!e  to  conceive  of  the  existence  of  the 
iiMiiiaii  race,  at  least  in  certain  latitudes,  without  the  knowledge  or  use  of  lire.  It  is 
certain  that  the  Indian  tribes  of  this  continent,  from  Patagonia  to  Newfoundland,  on 
its  iirst  discovery,  had  the  art  of  procuring  it  by  friction. 


'  Tliis  ralllo  i.s  fastonod  ti>  the  loj,' just  U'luw  tlie  knee.     The  motion  of  the  dancer  causes  it  to  rattle. 
'  Tlie  Dakiitas  nmke  tlii.s  in.struuieiit  frdni  a  siiij^le  piece. 


68 


THE  IXDIAX  TIllllKS   OF    TIIK   UXITKD  STATES. 


It  is  by  the  violent  iind  coiilimu'tl  riii)l)inj^  togetlier  of  two  pieces  of  dry  wood 
that  they  j)r()euro  fire.  For  tliin  purpone,  ii  th-y  rounded  stick  of  wood  is  [)laccd  in  a 
suuili  orifice  in  a  stout  block,  or  in  pieces  of  the  same  dry  and  hard  material.  A  whirl- 
ing motion  is  given  to  this  uprigiit  stick  l)y  doubling  a  cord  around  it  and  fastening 
each  end  of  it  to  tlie  extremities  of  n  bow  held  in  the  hand.  The  velocity  of  the 
revolutions  given  to  the  turning  stick  by  means  of  this  bow  soon  produces  a  flame  at 
the  point  of  contact. 

Two  modes  of  conducting  the  operation  are  given.  By  the  method  in  use  by  the 
Dakotas,  a  tabular  piece  of  wood  is  held  over  a  corresponding  orifice  at  the  end  of 
the  stick  opposite  to  the  incinerating  point.  By  the  Iro(piois  method,  the  top  of  the 
upright  stick  is  held  by  the  hand,  and  steadiness  of  motion  secured  by  a  perforated 
block  a  little  above  the  point  of  contact  at  the  heating  orifice.  The  gravity  and  cen- 
trifugal force  of  this  block  contribute  to  its  eflicacy.  The  Irocpiois  apply  to  it  the 
descriptive  name  of  Da-ya-ya-da-gn-nc-al-ha.  A  j)ieee  of  punk  is  heUl,  by  an 
assistant,  at  the  point  of  incineration,  to  catch  the  flame.  The  operation  is  clumsily 
and  j)ainfully  performed  by  the  Oregon  trib&s,  by  turning  a  shaft,  baseil  on  an  orifice 
in  dry  wood,  between  the  liands,  bearing  downward,  till  reaching  its  extremity,  or 
point  of  ignition,  when  the  same  operation  is  tpiickly  and  dexterously  continued,  by 
another  o])erator,  until  the  result  is  attained. 

Trifuradon  of  Maize. — The  mode  of  pounding  dry  maize,  by  the  grain-raising 
tribes,  varied  consideraI)ly.  It  was  a  species  of  work  left  wholly  to  the  women,  who 
generally  exercised  (heir  ingenuity  in  its  reduction.  Where  circumstances  favored 
it,  mortars  and  pestles  of  stone  were  employed.  The  mortar  was  sometimes  a  de- 
pression in  the  face  of  a  rock  or  in  a  detached  block  of  stone.  It  was  sometimes 
elaborately  made.  Frerpiently  an  orifice  was  formed  in  wood  by  burning  in  the 
surface  in  a  circle  and  scraping  oft'  the  coal.  By  renewing  the  fire  on  the  cleaned 
surface  a  deep  excavation  was  soon  obtained.  In  this  manner  wooden  bowls  and 
entire  canoes  were  formed  out  of  suitably  ])repared  trees. 

But  the  most  perfect  form  of  the  hominy-block  consisted  of  a  movable  wooden 
mortar,  hollowed  by  fire  out  of  the  end  of  a  solid  block  or  section  of  a  bard-wood 
tree,  some  two  feet  or  thirty  inches  high.  The  pestle  cm])loyed  for  this  consisted 
of  a  smoothly-wrought  piece  of  hard  woihI,  four  feet  in  length,  rounded  off  at  each 
end,  with  a  dej>ression  in  the  centre  for  the  operator  to  take  hokl  of. 

After  the  introduction  of  the  iron  axe,  consequent  on  the  discovery,  the  stumps 
of  trees  were  excavated  to  servt;  this  purpose,  a  practice  which  commended  itself  to 
the  early  back  settlers,  who  improved  on  the  idea  by  attaching  the  wooden  pestle  to 
a  spring-pole  loaded  in  such  a  manner  as  to  lift  the  pestle  from  the  block  with  but 
little  effort. 

The  preparation  of  green  maize  for  the  Indian  tiible  constitutes  a  different  branch 
of  forest  art,  which  will  be  described  hcreafler. 

Preparation  of  Flints  for  Arrow-  and  Spcar-IIcads. — The  skill  displayed  in  this 
art,  as  it  is  exhibited  by  the  tribes  of  the  entire  continent,  ha.s  excited  admiration. 
The  material  employed  is  generally  some  form  of  hornstone,  sometimes  parsing  into 


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INDIAN  ART,  INDVSTIiY,  AND   MEDICAL  KNOWLEDGE. 


69 


flint.  This  mineral  is  often  called  chert  by  the  English  mineralogists.  No  speci- 
mens have,  liowever,  been  observed  where  the  substance  is  gun-flint.  The  horn- 
stone  is  less  hard  than  common  quartz,  and  can  readily  be  broken  by  contact  with 
the  latter.  Experience  has  taught  the  Indian  that  some  varieties  of  hornstone  are 
less  easily  and  regularly  fractured  than  others,  and  that  the  tendency  to  a  conchoidal 
fracture  is  to  be  relied  on  in  the  softer  varieties.  It  has  also  shown  him  that  the 
weathered  or  surface  fragments  are  harder  and  less  manageable  than  those  quarried 
from  the  rocks  or  mountains.  •     .  ^ 

To  break  them,  he  seats  himself  on  the  ground,  and  holds  the  lump  on  one  of  his 
thighs,  interposing  some  hard  substance  below  it.  When  the  blow  is  given  there  is 
sufficient  yielding  in  the  piece  to  be  fractured  not  to  endanger  its  being  shivered 
into  fragments.  Many  are,  however,  lost.  After  the  lump  has  been  broken  trans- 
versely, it  requires  great  skill  and  patience  to  chip  the  edges.  Such  is  the  art  re- 
quired in  this  business,  both  in  selecting  and  in  fracturing  the  stones,  that  it  is  found 
to  be  the  employment  of  particular  men,  generally  old  men,  who  are  laid  aside  from 
Imnting  to  make  arrow-  and  spear-heads. 

The  Aztecs  and  Peruvians  generally  employed  obsidian  for  this  purpose,  which 
they  quarried  from  the  volcanic  mountains.  It  is  found  that  the  tribes  of  Oregon 
and  California  also  employ  this  delicate  glassy  substance,  in  the  preparation  of  which 
they  evince  the  greatest  skill.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  art  of  some  of  the  California 
arrows  which  have  been  recently  examined.  And  the  wonder  increases  when  it  is 
seen  that  these  tribes  are  in  other  respects  quite  interior  in  tlieir  intellectual  charac- 
ter, and  their  habits  of  subsistence  and  life,  to  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  prairie 
Indians,  who  inhabit  the  plains  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

Handicraft  of  the  Oregon  Tribes. — Nothing  evinces  more  skill  in  the  Oregon 
Indians  than  the  manufacture  of  their  bows,  arrows,  and  spears.  The  bow  is  usually 
made  from  elastic  wood,  horn,  or  bone,  very  dexterously  carved.  Bows  of  horn  are 
made  of  two  pieces  united  in  the  centre  by  means  of  fish-glue  and  the  strong  fibres 
of  the  deer's  sinew.  Cedar  is  sometimes  employed.  The  length  of  these  bows 
varies  from  thirty  to  forty-four  inches.  The  string  is  of  elk's  or  deer's  sinews.  The 
iirrow-points  are  wrought  with  much  art  from  obsidian,  sometimes  from  nicely-worked 
bone. 

The  hook  for  capturing  the  salmon  and  other  of  the  larger  species  of  fish  which 
ascend  the  Columbia  has  exercised  the  ingenuity  of  the  native  tribes.  The  ordinary 
hook  is  of  bone,  with  a  barb  two  and  a  half  inches  long,  which  is  attached  to  a 
line  of  native  hempen  grass.  After  the  introduction  of  iron,  a  combination  of  bone 
and  iron  was  adopted,  in  which  a  barb  of  iron  four  inches  long  is  used.  The  oppo- 
Kito  end  is  bone.  But  the  perfection  of  the  art  is  represented  by  a  hook  of  curiously- 
wrouglit  cedar,  seven  inches'  curve,  met  by  a  safety-prong  of  bone  four  and  a 
half  inches  in  length,  which  is  designed  to  secure  the  prey  from  the  possibility  of 
escape. 

Curimj  Skinjt. — The  drying  or  curing  of  skins  is  done  by  the  women  mostly, 
unless  the  men  should  be  on  a  hunt  alone ;  then,  of  course,  they  have  to  cure  the  skins 


70 


THE  INDIAN  riilBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


themselves.  After  tUe  Iiide  ia  taken  from  the  animal  it  is  brought  home,  and  the 
women  take  the  flesh  off  with  a  bone,  carried  with  them  for  that  purpose,  sharp  at 
one  end.  This  meat  wlien  taken  ofl*  is  about  as  thick  as  the  skin  itself,  and  is  gen- 
erally roasted  by  the  women  and  eaten  after  the  hair  is  shaven  off  with  a  very  sharp 
knife.  Then  small  holes  are  cut  all  round  the  skin,  and  strings  run  through,  which 
are  lashed  to  the  poles  of  the  lodge  inside;  the  fire  dries  the  skin  in  one  night;  in  the 
morning  it  is  taken  down  and  folded  to  the  size  of  the  pack,  convenient  for  travel- 
ling, say  one  foot  by  eighteen  inches.  When  they  dress  the  skin  they  take  the  grease 
off  as  tanners  do,  then  dip  it  into  water  wherein  are  brains  of  deer,  boil  it,  and 
stretch  it  on  four  square  poles  tied  and  pushed  into  the  ground.  They  then  com- 
mcuce  scraping  with  an  implement  made  either  of  bone,  horn,  or  iron.  A  fire  is 
kept  up  to  dry  slowly.  The  women  scrape  until  dry,  repeating  the  dipping  and 
scraping  a  second  and  a  third  time,  wringing  out  the  water  each  time  before  the  skin 
is  stretched.  If  it  still  remains  hairy  or  stiff,  it  is  drawn  over  a  cord  as  large  as  the 
finger  for  some  time  as  hard  as  they  can  pull.  Sometimes  this  is  the  last  process 
except  smoking.  This  is  done  by  sewing  it  into  a  bag  and  hanging  it  over  the  smoke 
of  a  small  fire  of  rotten  sticks  for  ten  minutes,  when  it  is  ready  for  use.  An  Indian 
may  bring  in  a  deer  in  the  morning,  and  before  bedtime  his  wife  will  have  some 
moccasins  made  of  the  skin. 

Mace,  or  War-Club. — There  is  no  instance,  it  is  believed,  among  the  North  Amer- 
ican Indians,  in  which  the  war-club  is  made  of  a  straight  piece  or  has  not  a  recurved 
head.  Generally  this  implement  consists  of  a  shaft  of  heavy  wood,  such  as  the  rock- 
maple,  witli  a  ball  carved  at  one  side  of  the  head,  much  in  the  manner  of  the  Poly- 
nesian war-clubs. 

Such  is  the  Pug-ya-nia-gun  of  the  Algonkins.  It  differs  from  the  Polynesian 
club  chiefly  in  possessing  a  tabular  shaft,  and  in  it-  less  elaborate  style  of  carving. 
Clubs  exhibited  at  the  war-dance  or  other  ceremonial  exhibitions  are  always  larger 
than  those  intended  for  practical  use,  and  partake  decidedly  of  a  symbolical  char- 
acter. 

A  practice  has  prevailed  since  the  introduction  of  iron  of  combining  a  lance  with 
the  same  implement.  It  is  then  shaped  somewhat  in  the  form  of  the  butt-end  of  a 
gun  or  rifle,  but  with  more  angular  lines.  A  lance  of  iron  of  formidable  dimen- 
sions is  inse'  ted  at  the  intersection  of  the  most  promineut  angle.  This  fearful 
weapon,  which  appears  to  be  the  most  prominent  symbol  of  war,  is  very  common 
among  the  prairio  tribes.  No  warrior  is  properly  equipped  without  one.  Jt  is  often 
elaborately  ornamented  with  war-eagles'  feathers,  and  with  paints  and  devices.  Urass 
tacks  are  sometimes  used  in  thc^  lance-clubs  as  ornaments,  and  not  infrequently  a 
small  hand  looking-glass  is  sunk  or  inserted  in  the  tabular  part  of  the  handle.  It 
is  then  intended  to  be  stuck  in  the  ground  and  to  serve  the  warrior  to  make  his 
war  toilet. 

Antique  Gori/ef,  or  Medal. — Whether  this  was  in  ancient  times  merely  an  orna- 
ment which  any  one  might  wear,  or  a  badge  of  authority,  it  might  be  fruitless  now 
to  inquire.     It  is  probable  that  tlie  modern  practice  of  conferring  metallic  medals  on 


n 


ll- 


riVDlAX  AUT,  IXOUSTRy,  AND  MEDICAL  KNOWLEDOE. 


71 


cliicfH  only,  luul  of  marking  thereby  their  anthority,  was  founded  on  an  ancient 
iiractioo  of  tiiis  kind  existing  among  tiic  original  tribes. 

The  ancient  gorget  or  medal  of  the  North  American  tribes  was  formed  of  the 
inner  and  shining  parts  of  large  sea-shells.  A  species  of  ancient  medal  or  gorget  of 
Hmsill  size,  found  in  their  ancient  places  of  sepulture,  consisted  of  a  circular  piece  of 
fliit  slioll,  from  one  n:id  a  half  to  two  inches  in  diameter,  quartered  with  double  lines, 
having  the  devices  of  dots  between  them.  This  kind  waa  doubly  perforated  in  the 
iilane  of  the  ci.cle.  Thrw  examples  of  this  form  of  medal  or  badge  of  chiefltiinship 
nro  figured  in  Plate  ir).  Figs.  7,  29,  and  30.  The  specimen.  Fig.  29,  was  obtained 
iVnin  an  old  grave  at  Upper  Sandusky,  Ohio,  and  Fig.  30  from  a  similar  position  in 
Onondaga  County,  New  York.  These  localities  serve  to  show  its  use  among  diverse 
trilK>s,  and  prove  an  extensive  community  of  the  prevalent  manners  and  customs, — a 
point  which  it  is  important  at  all  times  to  keep  in  view. 

In  connection  with  this  subject  there  is  given,  in  Plate  13,  Fig.  1,  the  representa- 
tion of  an  ancient  British  medal,  obtained  from  the  descendants  of  the  chief  to  whom 
it  wiis  given,  about  sixty  years  after  its  date  (1764).  It  will  be  observed  that  this 
medal,  which  is  rudely  stamped,  was  struck  the  year  of  the  crowning  of  George  III. 
It  presents  the  boy  king's  head,  crowned  with  the  olive-leaf,  and  the  inscription — 
(Jeorgins  III.  D.  G,  M.  Bri.  Fra.  et  Hib.  Rex.  F.  D. — shows  that  the  ancient  title 
of  the  British  kings  was  then  retained  in  full. 

The  obverse  exhibit.^  a  British  officer  and  an  Indian,  sitting  under  a  tree  on  rolls 
of  tobacco,  shaking  hands,  with  the  motto,  "  Happy  while  united."  The  Indian  ha.s 
a  pipe  resting  in  his  left  hand.  The  officer  has  his  left  hand  at  his  breast.  The 
liindscape  in  the  background  is  manifestly  the  city  and  harbor  of  New  York,  as  the 
stamp,  "  N.  York,"  "  1).  C.  F.,"  "  17r)4,"'plainly  denotes. 

A  wing,  crossed  with  a  pipe,  forms  an  appropriate  figure  at  the  top  for  hanging 
it  by  a  riblHin. 

Figs.  3  and  4,  Plate  13,  are  medals  of  the  French  perio<l  of  colonization  in 
Western  New  York,  al)out  160G,  in  the  area  of  Onondaga  County,  and  are  irrefraga- 
ble proofs  of  that  ill-fattnl  scheme.  Fig.  2  shows  small  medals  of  an  octagonal  form, 
inscrilwl  with  the  names  of  St.  Agatha  and  St.  Lucia  of  the  Romish  calendar. 
Both  are  made  from  an  alloy  resembling  silver.  No.  4  is  an  ovate  medal  of  the 
same  ]>eriod,  from  a  leaden  plate,  and  rudely  representing,  on  one  side,  the  figure 
of  a  man  hanging  by  his  arms,  and  a  snake  before  it.  The  other  side  represents 
a  man  sitting.  Fig.  3,  Plate  13,  is  a  crucifix  of  silver,  of  the  same  period.  No.  o, 
Plate  13,  represents  an  ancient  fonn  of  gorget,  figured  with  the  heads  of  snakes  or 
tortoises. 

Cnrn-Pritfle,  or  Hand  Bray-Stone. — Maize  was  cultivated  by  the  Indian  tribes  of 
America  throughout  its  whole  extent.  Cotton  was  raised  by  the  Mexican  and  Peru- 
vian tribes ;  but  there  is  no  instance  on  record  of  the  cultivation  of  the  plant  by 
trilx>s  living  north  of  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte.  The  Florida  and  Louisiana 
trilHN  raisetl  a  kind  of  melon,  and  jierhaps  some  minor  vegetables ;  but  the  whole 
of  the  tribes  situated  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  in  Ohio,  and  on  the  Great  Lakes, 


72 


TUE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UxVITED  STATES. 


reaching  on  both  sides  of  the  Alleghanies  quite  to  Massachusetts  and  other  parts  of 
New  England,  cultivated  Indian  corn.  It  was  their  staple  product.  The  valleys 
of  the  Delaware,  Hudson,  Connecticut,  and  minor  rivers  north  of  it,  yielded  this 
grain,  and  it  was  a  gift  which  their  sagamores  and  priests  attributed  to  the  god  of  the 
Southwest.  The  dry  grain  was  prepared  for  boiling  by  crushing  it  in  a  rude  wooden 
or  stone  mortar.  This  was  a  severe  labor,  which  fell  to  the  women's  share ;  but 
it  waa  mitigated  by  preparing,  daily,  only  as  much  as  was  required  by  the  family. 
It  was  not  crushed  fine,  but  broken  into  coarse  grains,  in  which  state  it  was  eaten  by 
the  Eastern  tribes  under  the  name  of  samp, — a  kind  of  hominy.  The  dish  called 
"  succotash"  consisted  of  green  corn  cut  from  the  cob  and  mixed  with  green  beans. 

The  ancient  pestles,  found  in  the  fields  formerly  occupied  by  Indian  tribes 
throughout  the  Atlantic  States,  were  generally  made  from  a  semi-hard  rock,  often 
grauwacke,  or  a  kind  of  silicious  slate.  They  were  about  ten  inches  in  length, 
tapering  to  the  top,  and  would  weigh  five  or  six  pounds.  The  mortar  was  some- 
times a  depression  in  the  face  of  a  rock  or  a  detached  block  of  stone. 

There  was  an  important  mode  of  preparing  the  maize  for  the  use  of  warriors 
who  were  expected  to  be  out  many  days.  The  grain  was  reduced  to  a  finer  condition 
than  samp  or  hominy.  It  was  then  mixed  with  a  portion  of  sugar  made  from  the 
sugar  maple,  and  the  whole  was  put  into  a  small  leathern  bag.  This  constituted 
the  warrior's  entire  commissariat.  Meats  he  was  expected  to  kill  by  the  way.  The 
burden  was  so  light  that  it  did  not  at  all  impede  walking  or  running.  When  it  was 
designed  to  use  it,  a  small  portion  was  mixed  with  water.  It  could  not  be  eaten  dry. 
The  quantity  of  water  might  be  enlarged,  agreeably  to  the  needs  of  the  warrior.  It 
was  then,  in  fact,  a  species  of  soup ;  and  the  strength  given  by  a  single  gill  of  the 
meal  was  sufficient  for  the  day. 

The  piola  of  the  Mexicans  is  a  substance  similar  to  that  described  above.  It  is 
parched  corn  well  ground,  and  seasoned  with  sugar  and  spices.  A  gill  of  it  per  day 
is  sufficient  to  keep  a  man  alive. 

Coin,  or  its  Equivalent. — The  discovery  of  America  caused  a  total  revolution  in 
the  standard  of  value  among  the  Indian  tribes.  Exchanges  among  them  had  been 
adjusted  to  a  great  extent  by  articles  in  kind.  Among  the  Northern  tribes  skins 
appear  to  have  been  a  standard.  A  beaver-skin  long  continued  to  be  the  mul- 
tiple of  value.  But,  however  general  this  standard  might  have  been,  it  is  certain 
that  among  the  tribes  seated  along  the  North  Atlantic,  some  varieties  or  parts  of 
species  of  sea-shells,  under  the  names  of  peag,  sewan,  and  wampum,  became  a  sort 
of  currency,  and  had  the  definite  arithmetical  value  of  coin.  In  New  England  a 
string  of  wampum  consisted  of  a  definite  number  of  grains,  the  whole  of  which  was 
worth  five  shillings.  At  Manhattan  and  Fort  Orange,  about  1G40,  three  beads  of 
purple  or  blue  wampum,  and  six  of  white  wampum,  were  equivalent  to  a  styver,  or 
to  one  penny  English.  It  required  four  hundred  and  fifty  beads  to  make  a  strand, 
which  wa-s  consequently  valued  at  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents.  At  a  subsequent  period, 
four  grains  of  sewan  made  a  penny.  Purple  wampum  was  made  from  the  Venus 
mercenaria,  or  qualiog,  while  the  white  was  taken  from  the  pillar  of  the  periwinkle. 


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lADIAN  AllT,  IXDUST/iV,  AND  MEDICAL  KNOWLEDGE. 


73 


In  opening  undent  graves  in  Western  New  York  this  ancient  coin  haa  been 
foiinil  ill  tiie  shape  of  shell  beads,  some  of  which  are  half  an  inch  in  diameter. 
The  same  article  has  been  discovered  in  the  tumuli  and  graves  of  the  West.  It 
has  also  been  taken  from  the  plains  of  Handusky,  and  from  the  locations  of  Indian 
graves  near  Butfulo,  and  north  of  the  Niagara  River  in  Canada.  It  is  at  these 
localities  precisely  the  same  article.  Not  less  than  seventeen  hundred  of  this  shell 
coin  were  taken  from  a  single  vault  in  a  tumulus  in  Western  Virginia.  It  has 
sometimes  been  improperly  called  "  ivory"  and  "  bone."  It  is  of  a  limy  whiteness 
iiiul  feel,  from  the  decomposition  of  the  surface,  and  requires  care  to  determine  its 
character.     But  in  every  instance  it  is  found  to  yield  a  nucleus  of  shell. 

BalUsta,  or  Demoiis  Head. — Algonkin  tradition  affirms  that  in  ancient  times, 
(luring  the  fierce  wars  which  the  Indians  carried  on,  they  constructed  a  very  for- 
midable instrument  of  attack,  by  sewing  up  a  large  round  boulder  in  a  new  skin. 
To  this  a  long  handle  was  tied.  When  the  skin  dried,  it  became  very  tight  around 
the  stone,  and,  after  being  painted  with  devices,  assumed  the  appearance  and  character 
of  a  solid  globe  upon  a  pole.  This  formidable  instrument  was  borne  by  several  war- 
riors, who  acted  as  ballisters.  Plunged  upon  a  boat  or  canoe,  it  was  capable  of 
sinking  it.  Brought  down  among  a  group  of  men  on  a  sudden,  it  produced  con- 
strrnution  and  death. 

Mcdlicka,  or  Amulets. — Charms  for  preventing  or  curing  disease,  or  for  protection 
iigiiinst  necromancy,  were  the  common  resort  of  the  Indians,  and  they  are  still  worn 
among  the  remote  and  less  enlightened  tribes.  These  charms  were  of  various  kinds ; 
tlicy  were  generally  from  the  animal  or  the  mineral  kingdom,  such  as  bone,  horn, 
claws,  shells,  steatites,  or  other  stone  of  the  magnesian  family. 

The  Indian  philosophy  of  medicine  greatly  favored  this  system  of  charms.  A 
liirgo  part  of  their  materia  medica  was  subject  to  be  applied  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  amulets.  They  believed  that  the  possession  of  certain  articles  about  the 
person  would  render  the  body  invulnerable,  or  that  their  power  to  prevail  over  an 
ciiomy  wa.s  thus  secured.  A  charmed  weapon  could  not  be  turned  aside.  The  posses- 
sion of  certain  articles  in  the  secret  arcanum  of  the  gush-kc-pi-ta-gun,  or  medicine  sac, 
armed  the  indli^idual  with  a  new  power,  and  this  power  was  ever  the  greatest  when 
the  possession  of  the  articles  was  secret.  Hence  secrecy  in  the  use  of  their  nccro- 
niiintic  medicines  was  strictly  enjoined.  There  was  a  class  of  charms  that  might 
be  thrown  at  a  person,  and  the  very  gesticulation,  in  these  cases,  was  believed  to  be 
enough  to  secure  efficacy.  The  mere  thrusting  of  a  meda's  sac  towards  an  indi- 
vidual wiis  deemed  to  be  efficacious.  A  beam  of  light  was  often  sufl^cient,  in  the 
Indian's  eyes,  to  be  charged  with  the  fatal  influence.  Where  the  doctrine  of  necro- 
mancy is  believed,  it  is  impossible  to  limit  it,  and  the  medas,  who  had  learned  their 
arts  from  regular  profession  in  the  secret  chamber  of  the  mystical  lodge,  formed  a 
class  of  persons  of  whom  the  common  people  stood  in  perpetual  fear.  The  terra 
jnediieka,  applied  to  this  class  of  things,  relates  to  any  article,  either  worn  openly 
or  concealed  about  the  person,  to  which  the  doctrine  of  medical  magic  might  be 

applied. 

10 


'>■! 


\  : 


.■■'; . :.;? 


74 


THE  INDIAN  TlilRKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Tli«!  variety  of  iirtick-H  actually  worn  to  ward  off  evil  influciieefl  was  very  j^roiit. 
Some  form  of  Hea-shell,  manufactured  or  unmanufactured,  was  regarded  iw  a  com- 
mon protective,  or  amulet,  by  moHt  of  the  trilK«.  TIuh  passion  for  hHcIIh  from  the 
(»ea  woH  peculiar.  The  sea  appearw  to  have  l)cen  invested  with  myHtical  powers.  It 
was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  magnificent  displayn  of  the  power  of  the  Great  Spirit 
or  Deity,  and  a  product  rollecl  un  from  '\\a  deptlw,  colored  and  glittering,  as  the  nacre 
of  oceanic  Hhells,  was  regarded  iw  bearing  Home  of  thin  mystorioua  power.  The  VenuH 
mcrccnaria  was  thus  prized,  and  various  articles  of  ornament,  which  the  Indiana 
deemed  sacred,  were  made  from  them.  Such  were  tiie  ancient  and  the  modern 
u'limpuin,  strings  of  which  were  worn  about  the  neck,  and  delivered  ns  mcmentop  at 
the  ratification  of  their  most  solemn  covenants. 

Ear-drops  and  nose-drops  were  anciently  made  from  shells,  and  they  were  worn 
not  merely  as  ornaments,  but  as  a  protection.  A  necklace  of  the  claws  of  the  grizzly 
or  black  bear  was  supposed  to  impart  some  of  the  powers  of  the  animal.  The  red 
pilMJ-stone  of  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  was  carved  into  various  ornaments,  and  worn 
about  the  neck,  or  suspended  from  the  cars.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  what  form 
this  desire  might  not  tjike  among  a  people  whose  tiuperstitions  were  so  varied  and 
subtile. 

Articles  which  had  served  the  purpose  of  amulets  in  life  were  deposited  in  the 
tomb,  for  the  Indian  futurity  is  not  a  place  of  rest,  end  the  huntc'  soul,  in  its 
uneasy  wanderings,  still  had  occasion  for  the  protecting  power  of  the  charm.  Hence, 
on  opening  ancient  graves  and  tumuli,  it  is  found  that  the  amulets  to  which  the 
deceased  was  attached  in  life  were  deposited  with  the  body. 

The  subjoined  specimens  are  given  from  the  two  periods  of  post-  and  ante-Colum- 
bian antiquities.     (Figs.  1,  2,  8,  4,  5,  9,  11,  Plate  15.) 

The  antiques  of  this  character  formed  from  the  much-prized  sedimentary  red 
pipe-stone  deposit  of  Minnesota  are  pictured  in  Figs.  7,  23,  25,  20,  27,  and  28  (Plate 
15),  together  with  amulets  made  from  various  kinds  of  stone  or  l)one.  In  Figs.  8, 10, 
13,  14,  15,  10,  17,  18,  11),  20,  21,  22,  and  23,  Plate  15,  we  observe  the  change  which 
this  passion  underwent  among  the  tribes  on  the  introduction  of  variously-shaped 
beads  of  glass  and  coarse  enamel  l)y  Europeans,  at  and  after  the  opening  of  the  six- 
teenth century. 

Antique  Javelin,  or  Indian  Shemagon  or  Spear. — This  antique  implement  was 
one  of  the  most  efficacious  in  close  encounters  before  the  introduction  of  iron 
weapons. 

A  fine  specimen  of  it  was  brought  to  Michilimackinack  in  August,  1837,  by  a 
noted  chief,  called  Mukons  E-wyon,  or  the  Little  Bear  Skin,  of  the  ^Manistee  River 
of  the  northern  peninsula.  The  material  is  a  yellowish  chert.  It  is  seven  inchef> 
long,  and  one  and  a  half  inches  wide  at  the  lower  end,  which  is  chipped  thin  to  admit 
the  splints  by  which  it  was  fastened  to  the  staff. 

The  length  of  the  pole  or  staff  could  only  be  conjectured,  and  was  probably  five 
feet.  The  chief  said,  on  presenting  it,  that  it  was  one  of  the  old  implements  of  his 
ancestors. 


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INDIAN  AHT,  INDUSTJiY,  AND  MEDICAL  KNOWLEDGE. 


75 


The  condition  of  the  Moqni  and  Navujo  Indians,  without  laying  much  claim 
to  urt  of  uneient  origin,  exhibits  un  ingenious  adaptation  of  skill  in  their  actual 
niiinncrH  and  cuHtonis. 

Earthenware  of  the  Pueblo  Indians  of  New  Mexico. — The  existing  state  of  the 
poltcr'H  urt  among  the  Pueblos  shows  improvement  us  a  result  of  contact  and  traffic 
witli  the  Spanish,  seen  in  the  forms  of  the  vases  and  bowl,  Plate  IG.  The  lingering 
tusto  for  the  gross  imitative  forms  of  the  true  Indian  period  are  very  strongly  char- 
acterized in  tiic  water-jugs  and  the  ladle.  This  existence  of  two  eras  of  taste,  witli- 
oiit  mingling  or  fusing,  is  evidence  of  the  long  periods  of  time  required  to  eradicate 
tiie  old  and  iix  new  national  tastes,  and  is  a  striking  evidence  of  that  undigested  state 
of  arU<  in  which  the  Pueblo  Indians  exist. 

Domestic  Handicrafts, — The  cradle  of  the  Navajocs  resembles  that  of  the  Western 
Indians.  It  consists  of  a  flat  board  to  support  the  vertebral  column  of  the  infant, 
with  u  layer  of  blankets  and  soil  wadding  to  give  case  to  the  position,  and  having  the 
edges  of  the  framework  ornamented  with  leather  fringe.  Around  and  over  the  head 
of  tlie  child,  who  is  strapped  to  this  plane,  is  an  ornamental  hoop  to  j)rotect  it  from 
acHudcnt.  A  leather  strap  is  attached  to  the  vertebral  shell-work,  to  enable  the 
motluT  to  sling  it  on  her  buck. 

A  peculiar  kind  of  net-work,  or  rather  a  close-banded  cap,  is  worn  by  the  men, 
which  is  gracefully  ornamented  with  feathers,  and  held  under  the  chin  by  a  small 
throat-catch. 

Tradition  gives  much  value  to  an  antique  pipe  of  serpentine  possessed  by  this 
tribe,  which  is  used  for  state  ceremonies.  This  pipe  is  u  straight  tube,  which  admits 
a  wooden  handle,  and  has  a  rest  at  the  point  of  attachment,  so  that  it  is  necessary  to 
stoop  in  smoking  it. 

Makiny  Blankets. — The  manufacture  of  blankets  by  the  Navajo  Indians  is  by  far 
the  most  striking  exhibition  of  skill  in  art  posses.sed  by  them.  The  patterns  of 
tiicsc  blankets  are  invariably  compose<l  of  simple  geometrical  figures,  in  which  the 
(liiimond  and  parallels  constitute  the  prominent  forms.  The  colors,  which  are  given 
in  the  yarn,  are  red,  black,  and  blue.  The  juice  of  certain  plants  is  employed  in  dye- 
infj;;  but  it  is  asserted  by  recent  authorities  that  the  brightest  red  and  blue  are  obtained 
by  macerating  strips  of  Spanish  cochineal-  and  altamine-dyed  goods  which  have  been 
])urf  based  at  the  towns. 

This  art  is  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Navajo  females.  There  is  no  evidence 
tliat  it  owes  any  part  of  the  manipulations  to  the  opposite  sex.  Nor  is  there  any 
well-fouiu.ed  presumption  that  it  is  of  ancient  standing.  The  sheep  was  not  known 
in  the  country  till  the  expedition  of  Coronado  in  1542.  It  is  raised  as  an  article  of 
food  to  b'^  used  in  seasons  when  hunting  fails.  The  native  has  thus  become  a  shep- 
herd, an  employment  in  which  he  is  said  to  be  an  adept,  driving  his  flocks  wherever 
grass  and  water  are  to  be  found.  The  wool  is  cut  from  the  skin  of  the  animal  after 
it  has  been  slain.  Death  is  thus  the  price  of  it.  The  art  of  shearing  the  living 
animal  is  wholly  unknown. 

SphiDing  and  Weaving,— TXxg  following  observations  on  the  mode  of  spinning 


.  liil 


76 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  WE   UNITED  STATES. 


and  weaving  in  the  Pueblo  of  Niivajo  were  ninde  by  Major  E.  Backus,  U.S.A.,  whose 
opportunities,  as  tlie  ^.nnianding  officer  of  Fort  Defiance,  gave  him  peculiar  facili- 
ties for  inquiring  into  the  facts  : 

"  The  spindle  is  in  the  form  of  a  boy's  top,  with  the  addition  of  a  stem  fifteen  or 
eighteen  inches  in  length.  It  is  entirely  of  wood,  and  the  vessel  in  which  it  stands 
is  an  earthen  bowl,  which  affords  a  smooth  surface  for  the  lower  point  of  the  spindle 
to  turn  upon.  Its  operation  may  be  thus  described.  The  wool  or  cotton  is  first  pre- 
pared by  carding.  It  is  then  fastened  to  the  spindle  near  its  top,  and  is  hold  in  the 
left  hand.  The  spindle  is  hold  between  the  thumb  and  first  finger  of  the  right  hand, 
and  stands  vertically  in  the  earthen  bowl.  The  operator  now  gives  the  spindle  a 
twirl,  as  a  boy  turns  his  top,  and  while  it  is  revolving  she  proceeds  to  draw  out  her 
thread,  precisely  as  is  done  by  our  own  operatives  in  using  the  common  spinning- 
wheel.  As  soon  as  the  thread  is  spun,  the  8j)indle  is  turned  in  an  opposite  direction, 
for  the  purpose  of  winding  m)  the  thread  on  the  portion  of  it  next  to  the  wooden 
block." 


•     •    •:  .-      '    ,      .  MEDICAL   KNOWLEDGE   OF   THE   INDIANS. 

It  is  to  the  acquisition  of  medical  knowledge,  more  than  any  other  professing  to 
be  useful  to  their  fellow-men,  that  the  Indians  bend  their  eflbrts.  The  cure  and 
knowledge  of  diseases  are  subjects  too  interesting,  in  every  wigwam,  not  to  excite  an 
absorbing  care.  The  Indian,  seeing  cures  performed  which  often  strike  him  as  won- 
derful, and  of  the  rationale  of  which  he  is  ignorant,  soon  comes  to  believe  that  there 
is  an  amount  of  occult  knowledge  on  this  head  which  nothing  but  mysterious  spiritual 
influences  could  communicate,  and  the  men  who  profess  this  art  have  ever  been 
regarded  with  the  greatest  respect. 

But  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish  between  the  simple  and  honest  Indian  doctor, 
or  muskikiwininee,  and  the  meda,  or  magical  professor.  The  latter  is  a  member  of 
the  mcdawin,  or  grand  medicine  society.  He  aims  to  give  efiicacy  to  his  skill  by 
necromancy.  He  shakes  the  charmed  skin  of  a  stuffed  wea.sel  or  bird,  or  a  magic  bone, 
at  his  patient.  He  uses  violent  genuflections ;  he  is  an  adopt  in  incantations.  The 
power  of  the  prophet,  or  jossakoed,  goes  one  step  higher,  lie  invokes  the  spirits,  not 
of  his  ancestry  iiuleed,  who  have  procedotl  him  to  the  land  of  spirits,  but  of  the  gods 
or  monedos,  who  are  represented  on  earth  by  the  various  classes  of  birds,  quadrupeds, 
and  reptiles  who  have  glided  in,  or  flown  across,  his  pathway  through  life.  It  is  by 
the  superior  knowledge  of  those  that  ho  sees  into  futurity,  forotolls  events,  and  pre- 
dicts health,  disease,  and  all  the  vicissitudes  of  life.  The  mishineway,  who  is  of  the 
third  order  of  these  ceremonialists,  belongs  to  a  more  initiate  class  to  these  mysteries, 
and  begins  his  functions  in  the  path  to  j)romotion  by  lighting  the  pipe  that  is  to  give  a 
sacred  character  to  these  institutions.'    The  Indian  physician  must  not  bo  confounded 


'  There  is  a  class  of  practitioners  who  are  neither  truly  mcdas  nor  medicine-nien,  but  H(inietliinj»  between, 
having  leaninj;s  to  the  hiuiher  icrenidfiial  exhiliitiiins  of  the  art.  Their  imdiIc  iA'  adniiiiislcring  luedieino  is 
after  this  sort.     Having  prepared  (o  ^'ivo  the  remedy  to  the  patient,  llic  prartiiiomr  addresses  it  as  if  it  were 


(ll  1 


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1 

w 


INDIAN  ART,  INDUSTRY,  AND  MEDICAL  KNOWLEDGE. 


77 


with  these  orders.  He  heals  bruises  or  dores  by  emollient  cataplasms,  and  dresses 
wounds  and  cuts  with  very  great  care,  paying  great  attention  to  the  cleanliness  of  the 
injured  parts.  He  sews  them  together  with  strings  from  the  inner  bark  of  bass- 
wood,  or  fibres  from  the  tendons  of  deer.  Diseases  of  the  skin  he  treats  with  yellow 
dock ;  al)scesses,  by  poultices  of  onions.  He  administers  simples  culled  from  the 
botanical  catalogue,  whose  laxative,  aperient,  or  other  properties  are  known  to  him. 
He  has  a  general  knowledge  of  the  most  common  disorders  of  the  stomach  and 
bowels.  He  knows  the  value  of  the  most  unremitting  care  and  attention  to  the 
patient  who  is  committed  to  his  hands ;  and  on  this,  so  far  as  relates  to  topical  cases, 
liis  success  doubtless  often  depends.  If  he  concocts  his  liquid  vegetable  remedies  on 
compound  theories  of  the  effects  on  different  parts  of  the  system,  it  is  with  a  simple 
reliance  on  the  natural  powers  of  the  mixture,  and  not  from  any  faith  in  the  magical 
doctrines.  It  is  not  known  that  the  Indian  physician  has  ever  directed  his  mental 
vision  so  far  to  causes  as  to  feel  the  pulse ;  but  it  is  certain  that  he  becomes  satisfied 
of  its  fulness  by  his  use  of  the  common  remedy  of  bleeding  for  inflammations,  or 
fulness  or  rapidity  of  its  beat. 

It  is  this  class  of  practitioners  who,  by  their  care  and  devoted  personal  attention, 
are  so  generally  useful.  There  is  known  to  them  a  forest  materia  medica,  and  a 
pathology  which  regulates  the  practice ;  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  they  much  miti- 
gate the  diseases  and  accidents  of  Indian  life  and  deserve  to  be  regarded  as  bene- 
factors to  their  race. 

The  Choctaw  Indians  have  two  kinds  of  doctors, — ^medicine-men,  oharmers  and 
burners.  When  charming  fails,  they  resort  to  the  application  of  tire, — ^that  is, 
cauterize. 

The  charmers,  conjurers,  or  those  who  cure  diseases  by  a  sort  of  animal  mag- 
netism, have  various  ways  of  operating,  namely,  by  titillation  or  the  imposition  of 
hands,  by  suction  with  the  mouth,  and  by  songs,  accompanied  with  the  jingling  of 
shells  and  bells  and  the  beating  of  sticks.  The  sounds  produced  are  similar  to  those 
of  ventriloquism  in  one  respect, — that  is,  the  sound  appears  anywhere  but  in  the  place 
from  which  it  actually  proceeds. 

The  practice  of  medicine  has  from  the  earliest  date  been  held  in  the  highest 
respect  by  the  Indian  tribes.  Muskikiwin  is  the  term  applied  to  their  materia 
medica,  or  to  the  curative  properties  of  botanical  and  other  remedies,  and  by  means 
of  a  personal  inflection  added  to  this  word,  the  class  of  doctors,  properly  so  called, 
is  designated.  The  curative  art  must  be  distinguished  from  the  practices  of  the 
Medawin.  When  the  ofiice  of  the  latter  is  sought,  a  course  of  ablutions,  asceticisms, 
fasts,  and  ceremonies  is  practised,  known  only  to  the  initiated.  The  order  consists 
of  three  degrees  of  progress,  from  the  initiate,  or  Ogima,  through  the  Sagima,  to  the 


n  sentient  penon,  in  this  manner,  saying,  "  You  have  been  created  for  the  use  of  man ;  you  will  perform  the 
office  fur  which  you  have  been  designed;  you  will  cleanse  this  man's  body ;  you  will  act  like  one  who  sweeps 
clean,  and  cleanse  all  that  is  hurtful  to  him ;  and,  if  you  are  too  powerful,  you  must  return  from  the  patient's 
body,  without  injuring  him."  . 


'"r>,. 


m 


78 


THE  LWDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UXITED  STATES. 


Miwter  Modtt.     Presiding  persons,  who  form  essentiully  u  fucnlty,  aupcrintcnd  the 
admissions  and  grant  tlio  awards  of  the  society. 

Tiie  number  of  botanicid  remedies  employed  by  the  Indian  doctors  of  the  Muski- 
kiwin,  in  (!omj)hiint«  similar  to  those  for  which  they  are  recommended  by  our  pliysi- 
cians,  is  enumerated  by  Dr.  Ziua  Pitcher  in  his  valuable  observations,  heretofore 
published.  The  pathological  knowledge  possessed  by  the  Dakotas  has  been  described 
by  Dr.  Williamson,  and  that  of  the  Winnebagoes  by  Dr.  Andros.  In  some  instances- 
the  herb-doctors,  conforming  to  the  superstitions  of  the  people,  employ  incantations 
and  rattles.  The  yokullah,  or  black  drink,  used  by  the  Ai>palachian  tribes,  is  a 
strong  decoction  of  the  caiisina  plant,  imbibed  periodically  and  regarded  as  a  panacea 
or  catholicon.  The  root  of  the  zhigowau,  a  kind  of  turmeric,  is  chewed  by  the  Chip- 
pewaa  with  the  view  of  rousing  their  courage  preparatory  to  war  excursions,  or  to 
deaden  the  efl'eets  of  pain.  Charlevoix  states  that  the  Natchez  had  a  "  medicine  of 
war,"  which  was  drunk  by  tuem  previous  to  their  war  excursions. 

It  may  be  observed  of  all  the  tribes  that  medical  services,  if  successful,  are  well 
rewarded ;  but,  if  the  patient  dies,  it  frequently  costs  the  unfortunate  physicians  their 
lives.  The  responsibility  of  practising  this  profession  is  known  to  have  been  great 
in  all  ages  of  their  history,  and  the  penalty  of  failure  is,  in  a  great  measure,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  remote  position  and  barbarism  of  the  tribes.  A  recent  observer,  in  the 
military  service  Qf  the  government  iji  Oregon,  remarks  tliat  the  massacre  of  Indian 
doctors  who  were  unfortunate  in  their  prescriptions  had  taken  place  in  the  central 
])art.s  of  the  Columbia  Valley  within  a  short  period.  It  Is  not  to  be  inferrad,  how- 
ever, that  equal  barbarity  is  manifested  by  bereaved  Indians  along  the  entire  range 
of  the  Northwest  coast ;  while  the  respect  accorded  to  doctors  in  California,  Oregon, 
and  Washington  is  equally  high.  In  tliose  regions,  where  the  civil  jwwer  of  the 
chiefs  is  very  circumscribed,  and  no  fixed  form  of  government  exists,  the  practitioner 
of  medicine  and  the  Indian  priest  exert  the  principal  authority. 

"  In  all  the  Indian  tribes,"  says  a  writer  who  has  spent  several  years  in  that 
quarter,  "  tlie  doctor,  or  medicine-man,  holds  a  rank  second  only,  and  at  times  sujie- 
rior,  to  the  chiefs.  The  arts  they  employ,  the  magic  they  use,  and  the  varied  in- 
formation they  must  necessarily  acquire,  can  be  obtained  only  by  persons  possessing 
natural  gifts,  and  after  severe  trials  by  fasting  and  privation.  I  am  of  o])inion,  from 
what  I  have  observed,  that  the  principal  po^vers  by  which  these  doctors  obtain  such 
influence  among  the  tribes  are  those  of  mesmerism,  and  the  stronger  the  physical 
em'rgies  to  exert  the  magnetic  develoj)ment,  the  greater  is  the  person  possessing 
them  con8id'Ji'ed. 

''  VV^hei  young  men  or  women  arc  approaching  maturity,  it  is  customary  for  them 
to  prepare  themselves  for  the  duties  of  life  by  an  ordeal  of  fjisting,  by  which  means 
they  are  enabled  to  determine  their  future  career  and  ascortain  wlictluT  or  not  they 
are  qualified  to  act  as  doctors  (for,  witii  these  tribes,  female  operators  are  quite  com- 
mon). A  young  man,  who  had  pa.sscd  through  the  ceremony  of  the  fast,  thus  related 
it  to  iiic:  'When  my  father  thought  I  was  old  enough  to  seek  my  To-mah-na-tvas 
(or  guardian  spirit),  ho  told   iiic  liis  views,  and  wished  me  to  prepare  myself.     I 


1*1 

i 


INDIAN  AKT,  INDUSTRY,  AND  MEDICAL  KNOWLEDQE.  |§ 

thought  over  tho  matter  for  three  days  {klone  aun  nika  wawa  kopah  nika  iunilum; 
or,  throe  <layn  I  Uilkoil  with  my  heart).  At4aHt,  when  I  had  concluded,  I  took  with 
mo  my  axe  and  my  wooden  bowl,  and,  getting  into  my  canoe,  I  paddled  up  tho 
Wiiiliipah  River  to  the  foot  of  that  black-looking  hill  which  you  Boe  (pointing  to  a 
hhiff  hill  about  six  miloa  up  tho  river),  and,  having  hauled  up  my  canoe,  I  filled  my 
howl  with  water,  and  went  up  to  tho  top  of  the  hill,  where  I  built  a  fire.  For  three 
(lays  and  three  nightM  I  kept  my  fire  blazing  brightly,  and  did  not  eleep  at  all,  nor 
did  I  eat.  At  aunrifle  I  waxhed  myself  all  over  with  water  from  my  bowl,  and  dried 
niynolf  by  the  fire.  I  kept  awako  by  singing  and  calling  to  my  To-mah-na-toas,  and 
by  dancing  and  jumping  over  and  through  the  fire.  The  third  day  I  saw  every- 
thing ap]Hnir  as  i'l  it  was  surrounded  by  the  sea,  and  in  that  sea  were  the  different 
kinds  of  To-mah- m-waa.  Those  that  we  first  see  are  not  the  medicine  To-mah-na' 
wiiK :  it  takes  many  more  days  before  they  appear.  But  I  was  faint,  and  I  only  saw 
an  inferior  spirit ;  but  he  has  made  nic  a  canoe-builder  and  a  hunter.  If  I  could 
have  remained  longer,  I  should  have  been  a  doctor.'  By  this  it  appears  that  it  ia 
only  those  that  possess  the  requisite  natural  gifts  who  can  become  doctors. 

"  Those  fasts  are  the  most  sacred  act  of  the  Indian's  life.  Like  the  tribes  east  of 
the  Rocky  Mountnins,  the  impressions  received  during  these  ceremonies  remain  fixed 
on  the  mind,  and  are  never  obliterated  in  aft«r-life.  The  name  of  the  To^mah-na- 
was,  or  guardian  spirit,  is  never  mentioned  to  the  dearest  friend.  And  it  is  only 
l)y  hieroglyphic  drawings  of  whales,  lizards,  porpoises,  or  birds  that  an  idea  can  be 
formed  of  what  the  image  of  the  spirit  is  like,  or  the  shape  in  which  it  was  presented 
to  the  mind  of  the  seeker.  The  same  feeling  of  dread  is  felt  at  the  idea  of  pronouncing 
the  name  of  a  dead  friend.  Years  must  elapse  before  any  one  is  allowed  to  speak  the 
iiiuno  of  the  departed ;  and  this  feeling  of  respect  for  the  dead  is  even  carried  so  far 
that  the  survivors  change  their  own  names,  for  fear  the  spirits  of  the  dead  may 
be  attracted  at  hearing  the  familiar  sounds  siwken  which  they  loved  to  hear  while 
(IwoUers  on  the  earth. 

"  As  soon  as  a  young  iKjrson  ascertains  the  fact  of  possessing  the  power  of  exert- 
ing the  magnetic  influence,  instruction  in  various  forms  of  the  so-called  magic,  or 
power  of  working  spells,  is  imparted  by  some  old  doctor,  as  a  professor  of  mesmerism 
might  instruct  a  pupil.  As  I  have  stated  in  an  article  on  burials,  this  gift  is  of 
various  grades.  Hence  we  find  that  some  are  simple  magnetizers,  possessing  the 
power  to  put  their  patients  to  sleep ;  others  are  clairvoyants,  and  profess  not  only 
to  read  the  nature  of  internal  disease  by  ocular  inspection,  but  to  know  the  forms  of 
simples  to  be  used  to  work  a  cure. 

"  The  Indians  draw  their  tropes  and  figures  from  surrounding  objects.  Thus,  the 
doctors  on  the  coast,  surrounded  by  marine  productions,  find  in  figures  of  whales, 
nharks,  porpoises,  seals,  sea-slugs,  snails,  and  reptiles,  suitable  objects  with  which  to 
personify  and  clothe  their  ideas  of  skookums,  or  devils,  who  are  supposed  to  be  the 
bad  spirits  who  prey  on  the  vitals  of  the  sick,  causing  death.  The  canoe  among  these 
tribes  is  the  cofiin. 

"  But  with  the  interior  tribes,  travelling  on  horstback,  and  chasing  the  bufialo. 


80 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


deer,  elk,  and  other  animals,  different  ideas  are  associated ;  and  with  them,  as  with 
the  coiist  tribes,  familiar  objects  are  made  use  of.  A  diseased  liver,  supposed  by  the 
coast  Indians  to  be  causeil  by  a  crab  gnawing  the  alUicted  part,  is  charged  by  the 
dweller  of  the  interior  to  the  malignant  spirit  in  the  shape  of  a  frog  or  a  turtle. 
These  people  bury  their  dead  either  in  the  ground,  or  in  boxes  perilled  on  poles 
or  in  forks  of  trees,  while  among  the  Digger  tribes  of  California  the  funeral  rites 
are  performed  by  burning  the  corpse  to  ashes,  A  knowledge  of  simples  seems  to  be 
[)retty  general,  and  they  are  always  resorted  to  in  ciuses  of  sickness  before  calling  in 
the  medicine-man.  A  species  of  cress,  which  is  found  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the 
forest,  and  is  of  a  very  acrid  nature,  is  used  for  blistering  purposes,  and  prepared  by 
bruising  up  the  leaves  and  mixiiii:  them  with  grease,  forming  a  blistering-plaster 
equal  in  its  effects  to  Spanish  Hies.  Another  method  of  blistering,  particularly  for 
any  affection  of  the  heatl  or  eyes,  is  to  apj)ly  a  coal  of  fire  either  to  the  forehead,  the 
temples,  or,  more  frequently,  to  the  back  of  the  neck  and  shoulders.  This  severe  cau- 
terization is  borne  by  tlie  patients  with  the  utmost  fortitude,  and  the  sore  kept  opca 
till  relief  is  obtained,  llunning  sores  and  ulcers  are  healed  by  a  salve  composed  of 
grea.se  and  the  jishes  made  from  burning  tiie  hairs  of  the  tiger-cat  (which  are  sup- 
posed to  possess  great  healing  powers).  Nettle  roots  and  leaves  are  boiled  in  water, 
and  the  tea  drunk  as  a  tonic ;  so  is  also  a  tea  made  from  the  bark  of  young  hemlock. 
The  Polypodium  falcatum,  or  sickle-leaf  polypod,  or  liquorice  fern,  is  a  very  valuable 
alterative,  in  much  repute  among  the  natives  for  scrofulous  complaints  and  as  an  anti- 
sy2)hilitic.  This  fern  grows  upon  old  trees  and  decayed  logs ;  it  has  a  root  resembling 
the  sweet  flag,  a  decoction  of  which  is  used.  It  is  a  sweetish  Mtter,  and  is  thought 
to  be  nearly  equal  to  sarsaparilla.  The  polypody  of  the  ancients,  found  upon  the  oak, 
wa.s  formerly  held  in  liigli  repute  as  a  cure  for  madness. 

"  Tlie  Bryonia  alba,  or  wiiite  bryony,  having  a  root  of  the  most  intense  bitterness, 
is  occasionally,  but  rarely,  used  in  fever  ciuses.  The  root  of  the  wild  celery,  possess- 
ing an  agreeable  aromatic  odor,  is  used  as  a  medicine,  and  is  in  great  repute  lus  a 
charm  to  attract  the  salmon  during  the  fishing-season.  The  heads  of  spears  and 
barbs  of  fish-hooks  are  rubbed  with  this  fragrant  root,  which  is  supposed  to  be  par- 
ticularly grateful  to  the  olfactories  of  the  dainty  salmon.  The  roots  and  leav<'s  of 
the  cow-parsnip,  and  the  young  leaves  of  the  yellow  dock,  arc  used  botli  as  food  and 
for  medicinal  purposes.  There  are  undoubtedly  many  other  useful  and  valuable 
remedies  which  have  not  come  under  my  observation. 

"The  doctors  have  different  forms  of  working  their  spells  or  performing  their 
magnetic  operations,  but,  as  all  that  I  have  seen  tend  to  the  same  end,  the  description 
I  have  given  in  the  form  of  burial  used  by  the  Chinooks  will  be  suflicient  to  illus- 
trate their  general  method," 


:i»% 


CHAPTER    IV. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


Existing  Monuments — Nort'iern  and  Central  Ameiiea  connected — Indian  Migrations — Scandinavian  Ex- 
plorati'ms — Digliton  Uock— An-.ient  Sliipwrccic — Supposed  Celtic  Inscriptions — Skeleton  in  Armor — 
Oneida  Stone — Western  Anti<|uitie8 — Mounds — Mound-Builders — Tlioir  Arts  and  Implements — Ancient 
Agriculture — Copper-Mining — Antiijuities  of  Lake  Erie — Uock-Writing — Architccturo — Fortification 
— Ancient  Indian  Art — Spinning  and  Weaving — Metallurgy — Pottery — I'ipe-Sculpturc — Axe — Vuse 
— Awl — Shuttle — Flesliing-Tool — Knife — Stone  Bill — Copper  Bands,  etc. — Manitos — Hope-Making — 
Geological  Changes. 

Antiquities  are  destined  to  throw  some  of  the  strongest  lights  on  Indian  history. 
Philoli/^y  furnishes,  indectl,  the  true  key  to  unlock  the  ancient  aflinities  of  nations, 
a.s  revealed  by  their  languages,  but  we  perceive  in  monuments  and  vestiges  of  art 
and  labor  a  sj)ecies  of  evidence  that,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  indisputable.  It  speaks  a 
rude  symbolic  language,  whose  alphabet  consists  of  ruins  and  fragments  of  broken 
arcliitecture,  statuary,  tumuli,  eartliworks,  and  other  evidences  of  the  by-gone  ener- 
gies of  men,  wliich  can  hardly  be  mistaken.  These  vestiges  restore  the  true  type  of 
arts,  and  tell  the  story  of  ancient  manners,  customs,  and  employments. 

There  is  little  in  the  history  of  tlie  hunter  state  of  man  that  can  be  dignified  with 
the  name  of  monuments.  Tribes  who  rely  on  the  bow  and  arrow  for  their  means  of 
subsistence,  who  cultivate  the  earth  by  loosening  the  soil  with  the  scapula  of  a  stag 
or  bison,  Avho  are  comj)letely  erratic  in  their  habits  and  customs,  and  who  put  up,  as 
a  shelter  from  the  elements,  buildings  of  the  slightest  and  most  perishable  materials, 
cannot  be  e.xpetted  to  have  left  very  extensive  or  striking  monumental  traces  of  their 
ini.<  history.  This  will  bt'  found  to  be  the  case  in  a  peculir.r  maiMier,  it  is  appre- 
liend','d,  with  the  antiquarian  remains  of  the  branch  of  the  human  race  who  formerly 
inhabited  the  iirea  of  th<'  (jiiited  States.  The  most  antique  things  in  it  appear  to  be 
tlie  people  themselves.  They  are  the  greatest  wonder  that  the  continent  has  produced. 
We  are  only  sur|)ri.sed  that  tliey  should  have  left  anything,  in  the  Une  of  antiquities, 
but  the  small  ami  naked  fieids  \\hi<'ii  they  tilled.  Moreover,  such  objects  only  should 
be  so  regarded  as  were  vieweii  in  that  light  by  the  Indians  themselves,  and  of  whose 
origin  they  were  either  ignorant  or  weie  pos.se.ssed  of  merely  traditionary  knowledge. 
An  exception  should,  however,  be  made  of  those  industries — lost  arts  they  may  be 
termed — whicii  were  superseded  by  improvements  introduced  by  the  Europeans. 

Yet  it  is  ftmnd  tiial  «oine  combined  eft'orts  for  defence,  and  the  deep-seated  prin- 
ciples of  a  native  religion,  have  scattered  throughout  the  land  evidences  of  such 
combinations  and  idolatrous  worship,  in  a  species  of  tumuli  and  military  ditches  antl 
<?uciimpments,  as  attest  the  possession  of  considerable  power.     It  is  true  that  these 


11 


81 


>'Mi 


1?l 

V    If 


m' ' 

B4.)           ...   .:i 

HI 

H 

82 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


nrchrcological  data  appear  to  have  been  accurately  suited  to  the  apparent  condition 
of  tlie  tribes,  and  not  to  liave  transcen(Unl  it.  Where  an  anomalous  ruin  or  work 
of  art  occurs  which  inii)lies  a  greater  degree  of  civilization,  it  is  safer  to  consider  it 
as  intrusive,  or  as  belonging  to  a  diflerent  era,  than  to  attempt  to  disturb  or  unsettle 
the  general  theory  of  the  hunter  period.  Time,  and  the  hand  of  decay  and  obscura- 
tion, are  poweiful  aids  to  the  mystery  of  antiquity  in  all  lands;  but  they  are  espe- 
cially to  be  guarded  against  in  examining  the  ruins  of  a  barbarian  people.  Such  a 
people  do  some  things  exquisitely  well ;  they  manufacture  arms  and  implements  with 
exact  and  beautiful  adaptation  to  the  arts  of  war  and  the  chase ;  but  the  proficiency 
wholly  fails  when  we  come  to  examine  buildings,  sculptures,  and  like  works.  A 
savage  may  do  his  part  well  in  the  building  of  a  mound  of  earth  which  is  the  joint 
work  of  a  whole  village  and  is  to  serve  as  its  place  of  worship  or  sacrifice.  lie  may 
labor  as  one  of  a  hundred  hands  in  excavating  a  ditch  or  erecting  a  parapet  for  sus- 
taining rude  picket-work  to  shield  a  community  of  women  from  the  attacks  of  clubs 
or  arrows.  But  it  is  vain  to  look  for  the  traces  of  an  equal  degree  of  labor  in 
the  erection  of  his  own  dwelling.  The  hunter  state  required  mounds  and  temples, 
but  no  permanent  private  residences. 

They  could,  where  the  fertility  of  the  soil  enabled  them  to  dwell  together  in  ac- 
cumulated numbers,  erect  a  tumulus  to  serve  as  the  ajiex  of  a  sacrifice,  to  lift  the  resi- 
dence of  a  ruler  above  the  plane  of  the  village,  or,  it  may  be,  to  constitute  his  rude 
mausoleum.  They  were  very  apt  in  occupying  acute  and  isolated  geological  emi- 
nences for  the  .same  purposes.  They  sometimes  placed  their  dead  in  natural  caves 
in  the  limestone  and  sandstone  rock.  IJut  they  were  themselves  satisfied  to  live  in 
huts  built  of  temporary  materials.  They  also  cultivated  limited  fields  of  maize, 
but  their  main  reliance  was  the  flesh  of  the  wild  aiiimals  which  they  chased  through 
magnificent  and  almost  boundless  forests.  They  adopted  their  totems  or  ■  morial 
badges  for  their  triumphs  in  these  scenes,  and  tliey  turneil  with  the  ferocity  of  the 
tiger  on  other  triix's  of  hunters  of  the  same  generic  stocks  who  presumed  to  trench 
on  their  hunting-grounds.  If  they  fortified  a  village  in  their  warfiire,  it  was  some 
sharp  defile  or  commanding  point,  or  a  gorge,  or  an  eminence  where  nature  had  done 
nearly  all  the  work.  They  were  natural  engineers  of  this  forest-castrametation. 
Their  art  and  skill  were  adeipiate  to  resist  an  attack  of  barbarian  tribes  who  knew 
no  more  in  this  line  than  themselves.  Uut  to  dignify  these  remains  by  the  name  of 
monuments  of  military  science  or  geometrical  art,  evinces  an  entire  misconception 
of  the  |ieople  of  this  tra. 

WIkmi  the  lofty  models  of  ancient  nrt  come  to  be  C(niipare(l  with  the  rude  scari- 
fications of  the  surface  of  the  soil,  the  heaps  of  earth,  and  the  inartificial  ditches, 
mounds,  and  earthworks  found  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America,  it  is  not  diflicult  to  perceive  that  we  have  wandered  very  fiir  from  the 
ancient  seats  of  arts  and  civilization  if  the  Old  World  and  are  surrounded  by  the 
merest  vestif     of  barl)iirism. 

There  are  some  evidences  which  remotely  connect  the  tril)es  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  at  ancient  and  unknown  periods,  with  the  tribes  of  ancient  Central  America. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


83 


Traces  of  a  similar  mode  of  the  general  expression  of  ideas  in  the  language  of  pioto- 
graphs,  traces  of  the  worship  of  the  sun  and  moon,  of  a  national  trait  in  erecting  the 
residences  of  their  priests  and  leaders  on  tcrracics  or  teocallis,  general  agreements  in 
arts  and  in  the  physical  and  moral  types,  together  with  a  general  unity  in  manners 
and  customs,  all  bespeak  similarity  of  origin.  These  evidences  relate  primarily  to 
periods  either  after  the  culminating  of  the  Toltee  and  Aztec  dynasties,  or  before  they 
liad  fully  consolidated  their  jwwer.  They  are  clearly  posterior  to  the  era  of  the 
semi-civilization  of  Mexico,  Peru,  and  Yucitan. 

A  very  striking  evidence  of  the  commercial  element  of  a  more  intimate  con- 
nection of  the  original  msisses  of  tribes  and  their  progression  northward  is  furnished 
l»y  the  zea  maize,  a  tropic;al  plant,  which  propagated  it.self  northwardly  and  east- 
wardly  with  the  spread  of  the  tribes.  The  cotton-plant  does  not  appear  from  De 
Vaca  to  have  reached  much  north  of  the  Gila  or  east  of  the  Rio  Grande.  The  vast 
and  naked  plain  of  Texas — the  coterminous  link  between  ancient  Florida  (the 
present  United  States)  and  Mexico — is  entirely  without  aboriginal  monuments  of  any 
kind,  and  the  ancient  line  of  Mexican  semi-civilization  cannot  be  extended  beyond 
the  latitude  of  Cicuye,  on  the  .juurces  of  the  river  Pecos  of  New  Mexico,  lat,  30°  N. 
and  long.  101°  W.,  a  point  visitetl  by  Coronado  in  lo42. 

The  tobacco-plant  supi)lies  a  similar  species  of  historical  proof  This  plant  at  tlie 
earliest  dates  was  confined  to  the  latitudes  of  the  area  of  the  Southern  States,  whence 
it  wiis  an  article  of  trallic  with  the  more  northern  tribes.  It  had  not  reached  and 
become  an  article  of  cultivation  as  far  as  the  southern  borders  of  the  Great  Lakes  at 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  1812,  at  which  time  the  8ui)plies  of  it  reijuired  by 
Tecumseh  for  his  negotiations  were  obtained  through  the  traders  from  Virginia  and 
Kentucky. 

Track  of  Indian  Migrations. — The  Toltecs  settled  in  Mexico,  according  to 
Dc  riloa,  in  oH?,  fouiuled  Tula  in  4'J8,  and  terminated  their  monarchy,  according  to 
Clavigero,  in  1()")1.  Agreeably  to  the  most  authentic  writers,  the  ("hiduniecs  and 
AcDJliuaus,  or  Ti'zcucans,  settled  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico  in  UtJo.  They  were  dis- 
[ilaccd  l»y  the  Te<'panecs  of  Acapidco  in  1012.  These  tribes,  agreeably  to  all  author- 
itiis,  came  from  points  west  and  north  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  It  is  thought  that  the 
most  northern  hordes  had  liccn  seated  on  the  easti'rn  sliures  of  the  (Julf  of  Cali- 
liiniia.  DilVer  a.s  they  may  have  done  in  languages  and  dialects,  the  experiment  of 
iiiiL;rating  to  more  .southerly  and  tropical  latitudes,  which  yielded  abundance  of  the 
Itaiuuui  and  other  tropical  fruits,  of  whicii  they  were  excessively  fond,  ai)pears  to 
liavf  produced  a  strong  sensation  among  this  genus  of  tribes.  As  time  elapsed,  horde 
liillowed  horde,  and  it  lia|)pened,  indeed,  as  in  European  prior  history,  that  the  most 
barbarous  trilies  coiKpU'ied  tho.se  that  possessed  the  elements  of  civilization,  and  soon 
partook  of  their  higher  modes  of  life  and  subsistence.  Civilization,  even  in  its  rudest 
forms,  a|)pears  to  have  been  a  ]>rize  to  barl)arians.  The  delightful  climate  of  Mexico 
itself  was  a  prize.  New  imjjulses  of  the  sanu'  general  wave  of  migration  succeeded. 
Till'  .Nahuatlaes  hail  peculiar  traditions  of  having  issued  from  caves.  The  la.'^t  horde 
that  came  to  dispute  for  sovereignty  in  the  Mexican  Valley  was  the  Aztecs.     They 


:■■    ■ 


n 


'It 


m 


I 'if 

rfii 
'.111 


r  r:i 


i^ww 


84 


TUE  INDIAN  TlilUKS  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


left  Azatlan,  their  reputed  startinj^-point,  in  IIGO,  They  advanced  by  distinct  stages, 
dwelling  a  time  in  each  place.  At  length,  having  reached  the  valley,  and  passed 
Tula,  the  old  Toltec  capital,  they  came  in  lIWo  to  Lake  Tezcuco;  and,  their  priests 
having  here  verified  a  prediction  of  the  discovery  of  an  eagle  sitting  on  a  cactus  with 
a  snake  in  its  claws,  in  this  lake  they  founded  their  capital,  which  has  risen  like 
another  Venice.  Here  Cortcz  found  their  descendants  under  Montezuma  in  1510, 
in  a  city  built  on  islets  connected  by  causeways,  after  they  liad  sustained  themselves 
through  many  wars  with  the  other  tribes,  agreeably  to  Mcndoza,  for  a  period  of  one 
hundred  and  forty-four  yuirs. 

Three  Indian  dynasties  have  preceded  the  Aztecs,  producing  migrations  towards 
the  south,  cast,  and  north.  Guatemala  and  Yucatan  are  believed  to  have  been  thus 
peopled.  They  escaped  from  the  invaders  on  all  sides.  When  the  flying  tribes  had 
reached  Tampico,  the  access  to  the  north  was  ready.  The  Mississippi  Valley  was 
thus  within  reach,  the  Alleghanies  crossed,  the  Atlantic  shores  pcojjled.  The  tribes 
Avho  had  been  infringed  on  in  the  south  infringed  on  others  in  the  north.  They 
drove  the  Skroellings,  who  in  1(K)0  lived  in  New  England,  across  the  (Julf  of  St. 
Lawrence  to  Labrador.  The  early  traditions  of  all  the  New  England  and  Atlantic 
coast  tribes  point  to  a  migration  from  the  soutinvi'st.  Such  were  the  traditions  of 
the  Massacl inset ts  group  of  small  tribes,  and  of  the  Narragausetts  or  Wampanoags, 
of  the  Mohicans,  and  the  maritime  coast  tribes.  The  Lenni  Lenapes  of  Pennsyl- 
vania told  this  tradition  to  the  Moravian  missionaries,  detailing  the  crossing  of  the 
Mississippi  long  after  the  passage  of  the  Irocpiois  and  the  Allegans.'  The  Southern 
Indians  represent  themselves  as  having  come  originally  from  the  w^est,  jnd,  after 
crossing  the  ^lississippi  at  higher  or  lower  points  and  at  eras  more  or  less  remote,  as 
having  concpienMl  tlic  original  Florida  tribes  and  taken  their  places.  They  told  this 
tradition  to  Adair,  to  Bartram,  and  to  Hawkins,  three  of  our  most  reliable  authorities. 
Such  were  the  accounts  of  the  (/hickasaws,  C'lioctaws,  Creeks,  and  Cherokees.  The 
Creeks  proceeded  eastward  acrosj^  Florida  to  theOcniulgee  branch  of  the  Altamaha, 
their  oldest  town  and  permanent  resting-place,  vestiges  of  which  still  exist.  The  old 
tribes  against  whom  they  fought  were  the  Yamacraws,  Ogeechees,  Wapoos,  Santees, 
lichees,  Yemassees,  Utina<,  I'aticas,  and  leosans, — terms  some  of  which  only  linger  in 
their  verbal  traditions. 

When  the  tribes  west  of  the  Mississippi  ;'.re  asked  the  direction  they  came  from, 
they  point  south.  They  came  up  over  the  fertile,  level  ])lains  and  hilly  uplands 
east  of  the  forbi<l<ling  and  impiu^sabli!  peaks  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Such  is  the 
account  of  the  (^uappas,  Cadrons,  Kansiis,  an<l  the  generality  of  the  great  prairie  or 
iJakcta  group  west  of  the  Mississipj)i,  and  of  the  lowas,  Sioux,  and  \V'iunebagoes, 


'  This  ani'ient  tril)o,  wIki  liiive  li'll  their  ii;iiiii'  in  tin'  iiriiicipal  iiiimtitainchaiii  of  tlio  (ilj  area  of  tho 
l.'iiifod  Stall's,  ha>e  di.sap]i(arcil  as  a  rc(iij.'iiizL'il  trihi'.  Trailiiimi  states  tlieiii  to  liave  biM'ti  overpowtred 
by  the  Delawares  iiid  Iru(|Uuis  and  driven  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi.  They  are  called,  in  this  aniiont 
relation,  TalligLwi, — a  name  nut  v.  ry  diverse  from  Chalakee,  a  people  aj^ainst  whom  a  liitti'r  lend  was  still 
Wa;.'ed  at  and  al\er  the  eolonizitiori  of  llie  eountry.  In  this  war  ditches  anil  eireiimvallalions  were  used,  the 
vestiges  of  which  still  exist.     Ii(  ippiis  trailition,  as  related  liy  Cusie  (  Hist.  Six  Nations),  confirms  this. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


86 


who  had  crossed  the  Htream  at  and  below  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  above  the 
junction  of  tlic  Missouri. 

Tiie  Sioux  proper,  who  are  the  type  and  were  the  precursors  or  pioneers  of  this 
group  of  tribas,  ultimately  reached  the  head-waters  of  Lake  Superior  and  the  sources 
of  the  Mississippi  River  at  Leech  and  Cass  Lakes.  From  this  position  they  had 
bogun  to  ha  driven  about  the  period  of  the  discovery  of  Canada  by  the  French,  under 
the  severe  attacks  of  the  Chippewius  of  Chegoimegon,  of  Lake  Superior,  under 
Bainswa  and  Jsoka,  two  prominent  chiefs,  and  of  the  military  band  of  the  Mu- 
kiiiulwii  of  Leech  Lake.  In  1825  the  Sioux  had  retraced  their  steps  south  nearly 
five  hundred  miles,  having  entirely  abandoned  the  upper  coasts  of  Lake  Superior, 
iind  retained  lands  but  a  day's  march  (an  Indian  term  of  measure)  on  the  St.  Croix 
ami  Rum  Rivers.  Their  southern  boundary  was  fixed  at  the  river  Watab ;  and  but 
for  this  guarantee  of  position  by  the  United  States  the  Sioux  tribes  would  ere  this 
liave  been  driven  by  the  fierce  spirit  of  the  Chippewas  and  Pillagers  to  the  line  of 
the  St.  Peter's — now  called  Minnesota — River. 

In  leaving  the  sources  of  the  Mississijjpi  the  Sioux  tribes  abandoned  to  their  fate 
the  Assiniboinos  of  Red  River  of  Lake  Winnipeg, — a  Sioux  tribe  with  a  Chippewa 
nuiue,  who  had,  in  fact,  revolted  from  their  rule, — and  this  tribe,  who  speak  the 
Dakota  language,  have  made  their  political  alliances  with  the  Chippewa  and  other 
Algonkin  tribes  of  tiiat  quarter. 

Of  the  ancient  Indian  tribes  of  Florida,  who  existed  there  before  the  coming  of 
the  whole  Appalachian  group,  we  have  no  traditions.  If  we  are  to  believe  Bristock, 
who  wrote  one  hundred  and  forty-five  years  after  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  thc^e 
Floridians,  or  "  A})alachite,s,"  had  a  system  of  sun-worship,  with  a  class  of  priesthood 
iiiid  rulers  and  jurisdictions  which  appear  to  be  almost  wholly  imaginative.  That 
some  of  the  descendants  of  these  j)rimordial  Floridians  still  exist,  as  elements  in  the 
groat  Muscogulgee  confederacy,  as  the  Uchees,  etc.,  is  beyond  doubt ;  but  their  nation- 
ality has  departed  with  the  fall  of  the  primitive  falcon  flag  under  which  they  fought. 

By  the  term  Vesperic  tribes  we  mean  the  entire  aboriginal  stocks  of  the  United 
States,  comprehending  the  Appalachians,  the  Cherokees,  the  Powhatans  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, the  Aigonkins,  quite  to  and  tliroughout  New  Hngland,  tlie  tribes  of  the  upper 
liikis  and  tiie  sources  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Iroipiois,  or  Six  Nations,  the  Monacans 
of  N'irginia,  the  WyaiuK)ts  of  the  West,  and  the  Dakota  group  of  tribes  of  the 
western  shores  of  the  Mississip[)i  and  Missouri.  The  point  of  migration  of  all  these 
tribes  wius  generally  from  the  "est;  prior  to  their  crossing  the  Mississippi  it  had 
lici'ii  generally  from  the  south.  It  is  the  geographical  area  occupied  by  these  tribes 
iii'ter  they  came  to  the  eiwt  of  this  river  that  constitutes  the  principal  theatre 
of  American  anticjuities.  It  wius  also  the  location  of  some  antitjuities  of  the  prior 
triltes,  of  a  more  antique  and  rustic  class.  These  vestiges  of  both  epochs  denote 
a  state  of  art  which  is  iti  no  respect  superior  to  that  of  the  semi-civilized  stock  of 
the  South;  the  grade  of  it  is,  in  fact,  tpiite  inferior  to  it,  if  we  except  the  vestiges 
of  labors  in  mining,  of  which  the  evidences  have  been  recently  tliscovered,  and  the 
features  of  intrusive  archreology  existing.    Tiiese  latter  are  attributed  to  Celtic,  Scan- 


(  t 


1 


., 


I'' 

■  il 


K'-A 


86 


THE  JXDIAX  TlilBES  OF   rilH   UMTED  STATES. 


dinavian,  Iberian,  or  some  otlier  Eur()i)eaii  sources,  and  can  by  no  means  be  assimilated 
witli  any  of  the  Indian  remains,  wliether  of  tlie  ancient,  the  mediicval  or  middle 
period,  or  the  existing  state  of  aboriginal  art. 

The  Lenni  Lenapos  tell  us  that  they  had  been  preceded  by  the  Iroquois  and  the 
Talligewi,  or  Allegans.  The  Muscogulgees,  or  Creeks,  landed  above  the  Natchez,  or 
Chigantualgia  of  De  Soto,  who  were  then  the  great  power.  The  Cherokees,  Choc- 
taws,  and  Chickasaws  speak  of  tribes  having  two  diflerent  languages,  of  which  we 
liear  of  the  dialects  of  the  Natchez,  Taensa,  Savanuca,  and  others  above  mentioned. 
All  tlie  Soutliern  tribes  of  the  secondary  j)eriod  of  the  Appalachian  group  appear, 
from  their  traditions,  to  have  crossed  the  ^Mississippi  River  at  comparatively  high 
points,  extending  as  far  as  the  inliux  of  the  Arkansas.  They  had,  according  to  their 
traditions,  fought  their  way,  during  all  their  migratory  track,  west  of  the  Mississipj)i, 
and  found  tlie  same  diflicultics  to  be  encountered  on  its  eastern  borders.  The  Creeks 
told  Mr.  Bartram  that  their  ancestors  had  reached  the  Ocmulgee  after  contests  with 
valiant  tribes  over  the  entire  country  from  the  Mississippi  to  that  i)lace.  Here  they 
made  a  stand,  and  fortified  themselves.  It  is  the  site  of  their  oldest  antiquities,  which 
are  pronounced  by  this  reliable  traveller  to  be  of  a  striking  character  :  "a  stupendous 
conical  pyramid,  or  artificial  mount  of  earth,  vast  tetragon  terraces,  and  a  large  sunken 
area,  of  a  cubical  [square  ?]  form,  encompassed  with  banks  of  earth."  The  latter  is 
what  is  now  ])opularly  called  a  cliunk  yard ;  and  though  Bartram  regarded  these  as 
of  the  ancient  period  at  iirst,  he  was  convinced,  on  entering  the  Creek  country,  that 
they  were  due  to  that  ])eople. 

The  tribes  who  had  reached  the  Mississippi  in  their  migrations  are  traced  on 
their  back  track  l)y  their  peculiar  kind  of  earthworks  and  vestiges,  which  are  the 
chief  monuiiRiits  of  their  history.  They  did  not  come  down  to  the  forest  and  fertile 
])rairie-lan(ls  on  the  west  banks  of  this  river  from  tlie  elevated,  bleak,  and  barren 
deserts  stretching  at  the  east  foot  of  the  Kocky  Mountains.  There  are  no  indications 
that  they  crossed  that  broad  and  forbidding  barrier,  where  travelling  in  modern  days 
has  required  the  utmost  capacities  of  European  and  American  skill,  energy,  and  en- 
durance. Fremont  takes  no  notice  of  anticjiiities  of  any  kind.  Lewis  and  Clarke 
found  the  Indians  of  the  Missouri  to  possess  the  capacity  of  fortifying  involutions 
and  strong  points  on  the  ^lissouri  RiviT,  extending  to  the  tribes  in  their  ethnologic 
disj)ersion  northward,  as  high  as  the  country  of  the  Tetons, — a  Sioux  ])eople.  This 
species  of  fortincation  is  remarkable,  as  embracing  the  principle  of  the  Tliuscalan 
gateway,  of  which  the  principal  forms,  existing  in  the  earthworks  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  have  already  been  mentioned.  A  prominent  object  in  the.se  forms,  as  in  the 
instance  before  us,  seems  to  have  been,  not  so  much  abscjiutely  to  bar  approach,  as  to 
jmt  the  enemy  in  <loul)t  which  way  to  go.  This  is  the  most  northerly  locality  of  an 
earthwork  of  this  kind  which  has  been  noticed  on  tln'  Missouri,  if  we  except  |)erhaps 
the  remains  of  a  simple  ditch  across  the  proniinent  doubling  of  the  river  at  the  old 
Mmdan  site.' 


It  is  intercslin>;  to  trarc  the  :irl  ul'  ruriilicalinn  df  ilio  .Mi»i.ssi|piii  trilics  down  to  n  romparntively 
poviod.     Tile  saiiu'   initiiral   |.rii]i  i|.l(  s  ul'  difi me   [iruvailcd, — iiainciv,  liiii.s,   trciidios,  un   involved 


ANTIQUITIES. 


87 


If  it  be  conceived  tliat  the  Toltces,  Tozcucans,  or  Aztecs  of  Mexico  passed  the 
Pacific  coast  prior  to  their  arrival  at  the  Bay  of  California, — a  prime  point  in  the 
ardiajohigy  of  the  semi-civilized  tribes, — it  must  have  been  before  tlie  tumuli,  the 
pyramid,  or  the  teocalli  forms  of  art  were  developed.  For  if  people  with  their  strong 
traits  had  made  points  of  occupancy  in  the  course  of  their  exodus,  as  the  Boturini 
picture-writings  attest,  there  could  not  fail  to  be  some  vestiges  of  this  kind.  And 
this  may  serve  to  create  the  belief  that  the  Aztalan  of  their  story  was  south  of  these 
lutitudt's.  It  may  also  serve  to  denote  that  the  Toltec  race  originally  struck  the  coast 
probably  as  low  down  as  the  Bay  of  California,  or  else  proceeded  in  their  canoes,  or 
l)alzas,  tc  that  latitude. 

Mr.  Iicwin  II.  Morgan'  argues  that  the  stjirting-point  of  Indian  migrations  was 
the  valley  oi  the  Columbia  River.  He  bases  this  argument  on  the  idea  that  the 
jirincipal  reliance  of  the  American  aborigines  for  subsistence  was  upon  fish.,  the 
abundance  of  which  "created  certain  centres  of  population  which  first  supplied  and 
afterwards  replenished  the  continent  with  inhabitants."  Such  a  region,  having  no 
parallel  in  any  jtart  of  the  earth  in  the  amount  and  variety  of  the  means  of  subsist- 
once  spontaneously  furnished,  he  finds  within  a  radius  of  five  hundred  miles  from  the 
head  of  Puget  Sound,  from  the  Umpcpia  River  on  the  south  to  Queen  Charlotte's 
Sound  on  the  north,  and  from  the  sea-coast  to  the  western  slope  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
llere  was  found  the  concurrence  of  a  good  climate  with  the  possession  of  the 


auis. 


most  bountifid  and  widely  distributed  fisheries  to  be  found  in  any  part  of  the  earth, 
llin  inference  is  that  this  area  would  necessarily,  from  this  cause,  develop  a  surplus 
population  from  age  to  age,  and  that  it  would  become  permanently  the  point  of  de- 
jiarture  of  migrations  to  different  parts  of  the  continent.  An  examination  of  the 
iiivas  of  Indian  population  and  their  means  of  subsistence,  of  the  natural  highways 
of  migration  suggested  by  the  topographical  features  of  North  America,  and  of  the 
known  facts  of  such  migrations  in  Indian  history,  brings  hinj  to  these  conclusions : 
first,  that  the  distributiim  began  on  the  Pacific  side  of  the  continent;  second,  that 
tlic  several  stock  languages  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  north  of  New  Mexico 
had  become  distinct  before  these  stocks  migrated  eiustward ;  third,  that  the  nations 
of  Mexico  and  Central  America  were  emigrants  from  the  north  ;  and,  last,  that  the 
initial  point  of  all  these  migrations  was  in  the  valley  of  the  Columbia.  This  seems 
at  least  a  highly  j)robable  conjecture. 


unto,  iinil  u  mount,  or  rodmibt,  to  defend  it.  In  tlm  cimtontions  of  llio  various  lending  biind-s  of  Indiuns 
I'nr  tlic  |i(iss('.>i>ion  of  tlu'  profitiililo  fi^inc-landrt  and  tiuntlnfi-ransi's  of  the  Mi.H.souri,  no  anticiiiitios  have 
liri'ii  noliccd  liy  tlie  niodcrn  traveller  more  .strikinu:  than  the  remains  of  intrenehed  or  palisadoed  villaires, 
eriiti;inknient,s  which  were  (h\-ii;;ne(l  n.i  eurtains  to  bowmen,  and  small  mounds,  or  pvrola,  intended,  );en- 
enilly.  its  reiloulits  fur  hand-to  hand  eombatants.  In  these  cases  the  artificial  mound,  or  cone  of  earth, 
iMoupies  the  position  of  a  redoubt  to  pites,  or  an  open  space  in  the  intrenchmont.  Sometimes,  in  this 
|il;iii.  this  elevation  conslitutcil  a  conical  tower  or  pinnacle  in  n  rectanjrular  wall,  or  line  of  embankment. 
There  is  also  unmistakable  evidence  in  these  locations  of  ancient  strife  for  tribal  mastery  at  the  zi,i.'ia^' 
^Mti'.  an  entrance  peculiar  to  the  Indian  tribes,  which  is  .so  contrived  that  the  as.sailants  are  left  in  doubt 
»s  to  the  ri<;ht  way.  and  led  into  a  riil-th  sue.  from  which  retreat  is  cither  impossible  or  very  perilous. 
'  North  American  Review,  October,  ISlJS,  and  .January,  1S70. 


38 


THE  INDIAN   TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


ARCHJ»LOGICAL  EVIDENCES    THAT   THE  CONTINENT    HAD    BEEN   VISITED   BY   PEOPLE 
HAVING    LETTERS    PKIOB   TO   THE   ERA   OF   COLUMBUS. 


Scandinavian  Explorations. — That  America  was  visited  in  the  tenth  century  by 
the  adventurous  Xorthineu  from  (jireonlaud,  and  that  its  geography  and  people  con- 
tinued to  be  known  to  them  so  late  as  the  twelfth  century,  is  now  generally  admitted. 
The  hardy  and  bold  mariners  of  Scandinavia  of  that  period  crossed  freely  in  vessels 
of  small  tonnage  the  various  channels,  gulfs,  and  seas  of  the  Northern  Atlantic,  and 
were  familiiir  with  the  general  islands  and  coa.sts  stretching  from  Iceland  to  the 
northern  parts  of  the  continent.  They  visited  from  Greenland  not  only  the  adjacent 
coasts  of  what  are  now  called  Newfoundland  and  Nova  Scotia,  but  held  their  way  to 
more  southerly  latitudes,  which  they  denominated  Vinland, — a  term  which,  by  an 
interpretation  of  the  sea-journals  and  nautical  and  astronomical  observations  of  those 
times,  is  shown  with  nmch  probability  to  have  comprised  the  present  area  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Rhode  Island.  They  appear  to  have  made  attempts  to  plant  a  colony 
in  this  area. 

Finding  the  trending  of  this  land  to  favor  the  spirit  of  adventure,  they  ran  down 
to  more  southerly  latitudes,  reaching,  it  is  thought,  to  near  the  present  site  of  St. 
Augustine,  in  Florida :  the  bays  of  New  York,  Delaware,  and  Chesapeake  do  not 
appear,  however,  to  have  attracted  notice.  It  is  certain  that  their  primitive  maps 
of  this  part  of  the  coast,  as  published  at  Copenhagen,  bear  a  name  that  is  translated 
Great  Ireland.  The  fame  of  these  discoveries  reached  other  parts  of  Europe,  for  it 
is  known  that  Columbus  himself  visited  Iceland  for  the  purpose  of  verifying  what 
he  had  heard  and  increasing  the  sum  of  facts  on  which  his  great  theory  was  based. 

Ancient  Inscription  on  the  Assonet  or  Diijhton  Rock. — More  importance  has  been 
attached  to  the  Dighton  Rock  inscri])tion,  perhaps,  than  its  value  in  our  local  an- 
tiquities merits.  This  may,  it  is  believed,  be  ascribed  in  part  to  the  historical  appeal 
made  to  it,  a  few  years  ago,  by  the  Royal  Society  of  Northern  Antiquarians,  at 
Copenhagen,  on  the  occasion  of  their  jiublishing  tlie  collection  of  old  Icelandic  sagas 
relating  to  early  discoveries  in  Auierica.  It  is  certain  that  it  was  not  regarded  in 
any  otiier  liglit  than  as  the  work  of  Indian  hands  before  that  era.  It  wa.s  noticed  by 
the  first  English  settlers  in  1020.  This  Dighton  block  and  boulder  drift  extends  to 
the  Massiichusetts  shore,  and  beyond  the  inscription  rock,  which  latter  is  a  large 
angular  l)lock  of  greenstone  trap,  presenting  a  smooth  inclined  line  of  structure  or 
natural  face  towards  the  channel.  It  lies  on  a  large  flat  in  a  bend  of  the  river,  which 
is  quite  exposed  and  bare  at  ebb  tide,  but  covered  with  several  feet  of  water  at  the 
flow,  submerging  the  rock,  with  its  inscriptions.  This  diurnal  action  of  the  tide  must, 
in  the  course  of  years,  have  tended  to  obliterate  the  traces  of  all  pigments  and  stains, 
such  as  the  natives  are  generally  accustomed  to  employ  to  eke  out  their  rock- 
writings  or  drawings.  The  effects  of  disintegration  from  atmospheri<'  causes  have 
probably  been  less,  under  this  tidal  action,  than  is  usual  in  dry  situations,  but  the  tide 
deposits  ujion  its  surface  a  light  marine  scum,  which  must  render  any  scientific  exam- 


M'1 


'If  J 

i'iM 

im 

^  'Ijf 

■l 

I 


ANTIQUITIES. 


89 


illation  oi'  the  inscription  unsatiHlactory  witliout  a  thorough  removal  of  all  recre- 
nifiital  or  (.IqMwitt'd  matter. 

Mr.  Schoolcraft,  in  IHIJ'J,  employed  Chingwauk,  an  Algonkin  chief  well  versed 
in  Indian  pictography,  to  decipher  the  inscription  from  the  engravings  of  it  in  the 
"Anti(iuitHtes  Americana,"  one  of  which  was  made  in  17iX),  the  other  in  18^0. 
Heleoting  the  former,  he  said  it  wiia  Indian,  that  it  related  to  two  nations,  and  con- 
sisted of  two  parts.  All  the  figures  to  the  left  of  a  line  drawn  through  it  which 
would  not  touch  any  part  of  the  liguris  related  to  the  acts  and  exploit*)  of  the  chief 
represented  by  the  key-figure  No.,1,  and  all  the  devices  to  the  right  of  it  had  refer- 
ence to  his  enemies  and  their  acts.  There  was  nothing  depicted  in  either  of  the  figures 
til  denote  a  foreigner.  There  wa.s  no  figure  of,  or  sign  for,  a  gun,  sword,  axe,  (jr 
other  implement,  such  as  were  brought  by  white  men  from  beyond  the  sea.  Mr. 
Si'hooleraft  originally  considered  a  part  of  this  inscrijition  Icelandic,  but  sulwc(juently 
decided  it  to  be  of  purely  Indian  origin  and  executed  in  the  peculiar  symbolical 
character  of  the  Kckeewin. 

On  applying  a  daguerrean  instrument  to  the  surface,  the  impression  herewith 
presented  (Plate  20)  was  given.  It  presents  a  unity  of  original  drawing,  correspond- 
ing to  the  Indian  system,  which  cannot  fail  to  strike  the  observer.  It  is  entirely 
Indian,  and  is  executed  in  the  symbolic  ehuracUcr  whiich  the  Algonkins  call  Kckee- 
win,— I.e.,  teachings.  The  fancied  resemblances  to^old  forms  of  the  Koman  letters  or 
ligures,  which  apj)ear  on  the  Copenhagen  copies,  Avholly  disappear.  The  only  aj)- 
parcnt  exception  to  this  remark  is  the  upright  rhomboidal  figure,  resembling  some 
t'orms  of  the  ancient  0,  but  which  aj)pear8  to  be  an  •  accidental  resemblance.  No 
trace  appears,  or  could  be  found  by  the  several  searches,  of  the  a.ssumeil  Runic 
letter  Thor,  which  holds  a  place  on  former  copies.  Rock-inscriptions  of  a  similar 
character  have  within  a  few  years  been  found  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  which 
denotes  the  prevalence  of  thi^  system  among  the  aboriginal  tribes  from  the  Atlantic 
to  tiie  Mississip[)i.  It  is  more  peculiarly  an  Algonkin.  trait,  and  the  inscriptions  are 
(■;illed  by  them  ^luzzinilbiks,  or  rock-teachings,  while  the  elements  of  the  system 
itsilt'  are  called,  as  above  stated,  Kckeewin  and  Kekeenowin.  Nor  does  this  dis- 
covery militate  against  tiie  general  body  of  Scandinavian  testimony  respecting  the 
anti'-Columliian  discoveries  in  America.  Tiiat  testimony  remains  undisputed,  even 
ill  more  southerly  latitudes  of  the  United  States.' 


'  Tlio  oviclcni'o.s  (if  the  Sc-aniliniivinn  clonient  of  occupancy  are  contained  in  the  body  of  Icelandic  sagas 
and  oddas  of  tlie  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  published  in  Copenhasien  in  1S.'{7,  in  the  "  Anti(|uitateH 
Anirricana."  Thes^'  evidencea  embrace  the  maritime, 'historiofti,  and  literary  record  of  the  aires  f|ucited ;  and 
ii  \\M  been  exhibited  with  such  references  to  the  sttttc  of  ancient  pcographical  and  astrononiical  science 
during  the  niediiuval  h);os  as  secure  respect.  Most  stress  is  laid  by  the  Danish  historians  i>ii  the  narrations 
iif  I'iiic  tlie  Hi'il.  Thorfinn  llarlsefne,  ami  .Snorre  Thorbrand.sson,  whioti  are  ascribed  to  the  twelfth  century. 
T liese  data  are  c(iiisi<lered  with  the  exactitude  of  the  ancient  system  of  Icelandic  jjenealogical  tables.  A  Runic 
inscription  was  discovered,  in  the  autumn  of  \&i\,  on  the  summit  of  the  island  of  Kiniriktorsoak.  in  Kaflin's 
Hay.  ill  latitude  7-^  hW  N.,  which  yielded  the  date  of  A.D.  llvJi).  Other  monuincnt.s  of  a  similar  character, 
bearing  iiis(  riptiuiis,  have  been  found  at  Igalikko  and   Kgregrit,  in  latitude  GO-  51'  N.     Iluins  of  buildings 

12 


!     I 


90 


THE  INDIA S   TlilDES  OF  THE  USITFJ)  STATES. 


TrndUinn  of  n  Wt'trhfd  Vrfnef, — Iroquois  triidition  prcHorvcs  the  account  of  tho 
wreck  of  11  vi'SHcl,  in  the  iiiit{'-('<tliiiiil)iiin  era,  on  ti  part  of  tho  South  Athiutic  couflta 
occupit'il  by  ouo  of  the  tribes  of  that  ancient  and  U'ading  Htoek  of  men,  namely,  tho 
Tuscaroras.  This  division  of  that  confinU'raey  tiien  lived  in  the  |)resent  area  of  North 
Carolina.  The  story  is  stated  by  David  C!usic,  in  his  curious  |)ainphlet  of  the  "  His- 
torical Traditions  of  the  Six  Nations,"  published  at  Lewiston,  in  Western  New  York, 
about  18'J.").  (^isic  had  rcllccted  nuich  on  the  position  of  the  Irocjuois  in  our  aborigi- 
nal history,  and  waited,  it  seems,  for  some  one  more  competent  than  lie  deemed  him- 
self to  1)0  to  undertake  tho  tiuxk  of  writing  it.  Ihit  at  length  ho  determined  to  do  it 
himself,  and  accomplished  tho  work,  with  his  mind  replete  with  traditions,  but  with 
a  very  slender  knowledge  of  the  structure  of  tho  English  language.  His  ignorance 
of  general  chronology,  and  of  the  very  slow  manner  in  which  the  dialects  and  lan- 
guages of  tlu!  human  race  nuist  have  been  formed,  wa«  profound ;  aiul  his  attempts 
to  iu-isimilato  the  periods  of  the  several  Atotarhoes,  or  leading  magistrates,  of  that 
fai'ious  league  of  aboriginal  tril)es,  are  utterly  childish  and  worthless.  Not  so  with 
his  traditions  of  events.  When  he  comes  to  speak  of  the  Indian  mythology,  and 
beliefs  in  spiritual  agencies,  the  monster  period,  and  the  wars  and  wanderings  of  hia 
people,  he  is  at  home,  and  history  nuiy  be  said  to  bo  indebted  to  him  for  telling  his 
own  story  of  these  things  in  his  own  way. 

The  account  of  the  shipwreck  runs  somewhat  after  this  manner.  While  the  bulk 
of  tho  Inxptois  were  yet  in  the  St.  Lawroiu'c  Valley,  a  ship  appeared  on  the  coast 
and  was  driven  southward  and  wrecked.  The  natives  aided  in  saving  them.  The 
adventurers  were  in  leathern  l)ags,  and  were  carried  by  hawks  to  an  elevation.  They 
afterwards  went  to  another  situation,  where  they  iucreiusod  so  much  as  to  excite  the 
jealousy  of  the  natives.  They  were  finally  overrun  and  eaten  up  by  great  monster 
quailrupeds,  which  overspread  tho  country.  Stripped  of  its  hyperbole,  this  story 
may  be  supposed  to  tell  that  the  mariners  were  falcons,  that  they  flourished  by  fol- 
lowing tho  princij)los  of  civilization,  so  as,  in  the  end,  to  excite  the  enmity  of  those 
who  had  saved  thciu,  ami  that  tho  infant  colony  was  exterminated  in  blood. 

This  tradition  probably  ailbrds  a  gleam  of  the  lost  colony  of  Virginia,  and  veils 
in  metaphor  the  treachery  and  turpitude  of  the  natives.  Nothing  would  comport 
better  with  the  T  lian  character  of  concealment  than  to  have  shrouded  this  act  of 
cruel  cxterminatic;;  iin<ler  the  figure  of  tho  ravages  of  monr>!.>rs.  The  Tuscaroras, 
who  relate  the  event,  are  known  to  have  been  from  the  be;;iiiiii;)g  unfriendly  to  the 
whites.  Tho  terrible  massacre  which  they  had  j)lanned,  and  in  part  executed,  against 
the  North  Carolinians  in  1711,  Wiis  proI)al)ly  a  recurrence  in  tiieir  minds  of  a  prior 
tragedy  of  this  kind,  which  had  proved  successful. 

Supposed  O'ltio  Iii^criptiom. — Assertions  of  a  Celtic  element  in  the  Indian 
languages  of  the  ancient  Iluitramannaland  (Virginia)  have  frequently  been  tnade. 


at  Upernavik,  in  laliluilo  ^^i^  Tt'l'  X.,  furthor  imlii'ate  that  these  Northern  Hpn.n  and  j^ulfs  were  well  known 
to.  and  freely  vLfited  by,  the  Greenland  finhermeu  and  adventurers  during  tho  era  of  these  Americuu 
discoveries. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


01 


Tlu«c  iirst  origiimtod  in  America,  in  17H2,  in  ciTtuin  iiocoiintH  given  by  Ihouc  Stuart, 
of  South  Ciirolinii,  iin  early  WcHtein  tnidor.  Tliuy  have  heen  rej)eate(l  in  vuriouu 
toriiiH,  at  HUccewHivo  iieriods,  hy  Davey,  Sutton,  Hickn,  Lewin,  Ueatty,  KogerH,  Fiiwon, 
("athn,  and  otiierrt.  The;  diHcovery  of  a  Welsli  element  in  tiie  Indian  langnagew  iH 
wholly  witliout  proof  of  a  philological  chuructcr;  nor  can  it  ever  be  determined 
without  full  and  aecnirate  voeabularies  of  the  weveral  Indian  language  involved. 
An  in.serii)tion  in  apparently  Home  form  of  the  Celtic  character  came  to  light  in  the 
Ohio  Valley  in  IHJW.  Thia  relic  wan  founil  in  one  of  the  principal  tnnuili  near 
W'liet'ling,  in  Went  Virginia.  It  purports  to  bo  of  un  ajtparently  early  period, — 
namely,  13'2K.  It  ih  in  the  C«'ltiberic  character,  but  has  not  been  deciphered.'  Its 
archiL'ology  appears  e(jrroborative  of  the  Cind)rian  and  Tuseurora  traditions  re- 
specting a  white  race  in  ante-Columbian  periods  in  this  part  of  America.  This  fact 
was  announced  to  the  Koyal  (jieographical  Society  of  London  in  1842.  A  fuller 
account  of  it  is  given  in  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society, 
vol.  i.  p.  2(J5).     M.  Jomard  regarded  it  as  of  Libyan  origin. 

With  regard  to  the  inscription,  it  may  be  said,  if  genuine,  to  be  intrusive  and  of 
foreign  origin.  It  has  belonged  to  some  adventurer  or  captive  carried  by  the  tribw 
to  tiiis  spot.  Many  contend,  on  what  are  considered  slight  grounds,  for  a  compara- 
tively high  state  of  civilization  in  the  ancient  iidiabitants  of  tlie  West,  and  adduce 
their  architectural  ruins  and  attainments  in  fortillcation  jw  a  proof  of  it.  But,  grant- 
ing whatever  can  be  advanced  on  this  head,  it  would  contradict  all  our  actual  knowl- 
edge on  this  branch  of  American  archeology  to  admit  the  possession  by  them  at  any 
period  known  to  us  of  an  alphabet  of  any  kind.  The  characters  employed  in  picture- 
writing  by  the  Toltecs  and  Aztecs  were  symbolic  and  representative,  and  they  have 
left  irrefragable  evidences  of  their  high  proficiency  in  them,  but  nothing  more. 
There  can  be  no  pretence  thut  any  Indian  race  who  ever  iidiabited  this  valley  pos- 
scKsed  an  alphabetic  art.  The  inscription  of  this  tumulus,  if  it  be  true,  is  foreign. 
The  (piestion  of  its  genuineness  nuist  rest  on  the  veracity  of  Mr.  Tondinson,  its  pro- 
prietor, and  his  neighbors  who  have  united  in  his  statements.  A  strong  objection  is 
found  in  the  inability  of  the  Coj>enhagen  antiquarii«  to  read  it,  while  acknowledging 
ii  huge  portion  of  its  character  to  be  in  the  Spanish  type  of  the  Celtic.  The  follow- 
ing ciiaracters  are  common,  it  will  be  seen,  to  the  inscription  at  Dighton  Rock  and 
(j rave  ('reck  Mcamd,  namely  :  0X1.  A  still  greater  amount  of  resemblance  to  it 
ap|ieiirs  in  the  "stick-book"  character  of  the  ancient  British  Celtic.  This  is  per- 
ceived in  the  characters  0  (  1  >  A  X  X,  which  are  common  to  both  inscriptions, 
namely,  the  Celtic  and  the  Virginic.  There  would  appear  to  be  some  grounds  here 
for  the  Welsh  tradition  of  Madoc. 

These  records  hint  at  a  still  earlier  period  of  discovery  and  settlement  by  the 
Erse  or  Celts  of  Ireland,  on  the  coasts  lying  between  Virginia  and  Florida,  a  region 
known  umler  the  Icelandic  name  of  "  Iluitramannaland," — i.e.,  the  land  of  white  men. 
The  testimony  of  the  Icelandic  sagas  rests  on  admitted  proofs,  but  there  is  u  species 


I; 


If' 

Hi- 


iP:     U 


m 


■I 

'I 


51 


'  C.  C.  Kafn.     Si'c  Mt'iuuiruH  (le  la  Soci(5ti^  Riiyiilu  dos  Aiitii|uairt.'g  <lu  Nord,  Cuju'tilingfii,  1840-184.1. 


M'   '  '       !■• 


92 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


of  evidence  of  a  wholly  different  character  brought  forward.  We  allude  to  the  use 
which  has  been  made  of  the  Dighton  Hock  inscription  and  of  the  very  modern 
structure  known  as  the  "  Nwvport  Ruin."  The  former  is  a  weU-characterized  picto- 
graphic  inscription  due  to  the  Indians ;  the  latter  is  an  economical  structure  built  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  by  Governor  Benedict  Arnold  of  Jlhode 
Island.  There  is  a  round  stone  mill  at  Chesterton,  Warwickshire,  England,  the 
counterpart  of  that  at  Newport.  The  Arnold  family  is.  supposed  to  have  come  from 
Leamington,  which  is  but  three  miles  from  Chesterton.  Governor  Arnold  had  a 
farm  which  he  called  "  Leamington  Farm." 

The  Skeleton  in  Armor} — Some  years  since,  accounts  were  published,  nnd  exten- 
sively circulated  in  Rhode  Island  and  elsewhere,  stating  that  a  skeleton  in  armor  had 
been  discovered  near  Fall  River,  which,  from  the  character  of  the  armor,  was  con- 
jectured to  be  of  Carthaginian  origin,  the  remains  of  some  shipwrecked  adventurer, 
or  perhaps  of  one  of  the  fellow-voyagci-s  of  Thorfinn.  These  speculations,  however, 
seem  to  have  been  made  without  any  critical  examination  of  the  bones  themselves,  or 
of  the  metallic  implements  found  with  them.  A  piece  of  copper  plate,  rather  thicker 
than  sheathing  copper,  was  found  with  this  skeleton,  and  had  been  hung  round  the 
neck.  This,  however,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  its  original  position,  as  there  were  no 
/iiarks  on  the  breast  of  the  green  carbonate  with  which- parts  of  the  copper  were  cov- 
ered. This  j)late  was  in  shape  like  a  carpenter's  saw,  but  without  serrated  edges ;  it 
was  ten  inches  in  length,  six  or  seven  inches  wide  at  the  top,  and  four  at  the  bottom  ; 
the  lower  part  was  broken,  so  that  it  had.  probably  been  longer  than  at  present.  The 
edges  were  smooth,  and  a  liole  was  pierced  in  the  top,  by  which  it  appears  to  have  been 
suspended  to  the  bo'ly  with  a  thong.  Several  arrow-heads  of  copper  were  also  ft  und, 
about  an  inch  and  v  half  long  by  an  inch  broad  at  the  ba.se,  and  having  a  round  hole 
in  the  centre  to  fasten  them  to  the  shaft.-  They  were  flat,  of  the  same  thickness  with 
the  plate  above  mentioned,  and  quite  sharp,  the  sides  concave,  the  base  square  and 
not  barbed.     Pieces  of  i-ie  shaft  were  also  found. 

The  most  remarkable  thing  about  this  skeleton,  however,  was  a  belt,  composed 
of  parallel  copper  tubes,  about  a  hundred  in  number,  four  inches  in  length,  and  of  the 
thickness  >f  a  common  drawing-pencil.         '   ••  ''  " 

These  tubes  were  thin,  and  exterior  io  others  of  wood,  through  each  of  which 
a  leather  thong  was  passed,  and  tied  at  each  end  to  a  long  thong  passing  round  the 
body. 

These  thongs  were  preserved,  as  well  as  the  wooden  tubes ;  the  copper  was  much 
decayed,  and  in  some  places  was  gone.  This  belt  was  fiistoned  under  the  left  arm, 
by  tying  the  ends  of  the  long  string  together,  und  pa-ssed  round  the  breast  and  back 
a  llltle  below  the  shoulder-blades.  Nothing  else  wius  founil  but  a  piece  of  coarse 
cloth  or  matting,  of  the  thickness  of  sail-cloth,  a  few  inches  s(|uare.  It  is  to  be  ob- 
served that  the  flesh  appeared  to  have  been  preserved  wherever  any  of  the  copper 
touched  it. 


Tliis  i.s  the  subject  of  one  of  Lungfellow'«  balldda. 


^ 


■-■''■    i^ 

-  :'■'  J 

■■  ^fflM 

m 

M 


V 

i 

ft 


.'C* 


l      1. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


93 


The  bones  of  the  feet  were  wanting.  The  skull  was  of  ordinary  size,  the  forehead 
low,  beginning  to  retreat  at  not  more  than  an  inch  from  the  nose ;  the  head  conical, 
and  larger  behind  the  ears  than  in  front.  The  hands  and  arms  were  small,  and  the 
body  was  apparently  that  of  a  person  below  the  middle  size. 

Very  little  argumeat  is  necessary  to  show  that  the  famous  Fall  River  skeleton 
must  have  been  a  North  American  Indian.  The  state  of  preservation  of  the  flesh 
and  bones  proves  that  it- could  not  have  been  of  very  ancient  date,  the  piece  of  the 
skull  now  exhibited  being  perfectly  sound  and  having  the  serrated  edge  of  the  suture. 
The  conical  formation  of  the  skull  peculiar  to  the  Indian  seems  also  conclusive. 
The  character  of  the  metallic  implements  found  is  not  such  as  to  warrant  any  other 
supposition. 

An  Aboriginal  Palladium — The  Oneida  Stone. — Characteristic  traits  in  the  his- 
tory of  races  often  develop  themselves  in  connection  with  the  general  or  local 
ioatures  of  a  country,  or  even  with  some  minor  object  in  its  natural  history.  There 
is  a  remarkable  instance  of  this  development  of  the  aboriginal  mind  in  the  history  of 
the  Oneidas. 

This  tribe  derives  its  name  from  a  celebrated  stone  (a  view  of  which  is  annexed) 
which  lies  partly  embedded  in  the  soil  on  one  of  the  highest  eminences  in  the  terri- 
tory formerly  occupied  by  that  tribe  in  Western  New  York.  This  ancient  and  long- 
remembered  object  in  the  surface  geology  of  the  country  belongs  to  the  erratic-block 
group,  and  has  never  been  touched  by  the  sculptor  or  engraver.  It  is  indissolubly 
associated  with  tKe  early  history  and  origin  of  the  Oneidas,  and  is  spoken  of  in  their 
traditions  as  if  it  were  the  palladium  of  their  liberties  and  the  symbolical  record  of 
their  very  nationality.  It  was  the  silent  witness  of  their  first  association  as  a  tribe. 
Around  it  their  sachems  sat  in  solemn  council.  Around  it  their  warriors  marched 
in  martial  file  before  setting  out  on  the  war-path,  and  it  was  here  that  they  recited 
their  warlike  deeds  and  uttered  their  shouts  of  defiance.  From  this  eminence  they 
watched  the  first  approaches  of  an  enemy ;  and  to  this  spot  they  rushed  in  alarm  and 
lit  up  their  beacon-fires  to  arouse  their  warriors  whenever  they  received  news  of  hos- 
tile footsteps  in  their  land.  They  were  called  Oneidas  f:om  Oneota,  the  name  of  this 
stone, — the  original  word,  as  still  preserved  by  the  tribe, — which  signifies  the  People 
of  the  Stone,  or,  by  a  metaphor,  the  People  who  sprang  from  the  Stone.  A  stone 
was  the  symbol  of  their  collective  nationality,  although  the  tribe  was  comrKised,  like 
the  other  Iroquois  cantons,  of  individuals  of  the  clans  of  the  Turtle,  the  Bear,  the 
Wolf,  and  other  totemic  bearings.  They  were  early  renowned  among  the  tribes  for 
their  wisdom  in  council,  bravery  in  war,  and  skill  in  hunting;  and  it  is  yet  remem- 
bered that  when  the  Adirondack  and  other  enemies  found  their  trail  and  foot-marks 
in  the  forest  they  fled  in  fear,  exclaiming,  "  It  is  the  track  of  the  Oneida !"  To  note 
this  discovery,  it  was  customary  with  the  enemy  to  cut  down  a  siipling  to  within  two 
or  three  feet  of  the  ground,  and  i)eel  its  bark  cleanly  off",  so  tis  to  present  a  white  sur- 
face to  attract  notice.  They  then  laid  a  stone  on  the  top.  This  was  the  well-known 
symbol  of  the  Oneida,  and  was  used  as  a  warning  to  the  absent  members  of  the 
soouting-party  who  might  fall  on  the  same  trail. 


I'  H 
t 


«:■<; 


\fmm 


94 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Antiquities  West  of  the  AllegJMnies. — There  were  two  great  ethnological  families 
of  red  men  in  North  America, — the  tribes  once  resident  in  Mexico,  and  those  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Occupying  different  latitudes,  separated  by  climatic  bar- 
riers, and  holding  diverse  positions  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  they  inhabited  coter- 
minous countries  and  were  in  character  sui  generis.  They  coincided  in  general 
features,  character,  habits,  and  modes  of  thought  and  action.  The  vocabularies  of 
their  languages  differed,  but  the  grammatical  structure  of  them,  and  the  philosophical 
principles  upon  which  they  were  based,  were  remarkably  coincident.  Their  arts  and 
occupations  were  also  dissimilar,  the  one  being  an  agricultural  people  and  the  other 
still  retaining  their  normal  type  of  hunters  and  foresters.  The  picture-writing  of 
the  Aztecs  was  an  improvement  on  pictography.  Tlieir  cosmogonies  and  mytholo- 
gies were  rendered  incongruous,  and  their  religion  converted  into  pure  demonology ; 
the  latter  was  founded  on  a  few  leading  Indian  principles,  which,  though  similar  to 
those  of  the  North,  had  acquired  a  grosser  intensity  of  error  and  idolatry.  In  mental 
strength  they  were  likewise  inferior  to  the  Indians  of  the  North.  The  climates, 
fauna,  and  flora  of  their  countries  were  different.  The  position  of  one  people  being 
in  the  tropical  and  that  of  the  other  in  the  temperate  latitudes,  they  resorted  to  dif- 
ferent means  for  obtaining  subsistence.  There  was  nothing,  however,  in  which  the 
broad  line  of  separation  was  more  clearly  defined  than  in  their  modes  of  government. 
The  American  class  adhered  to  a  primitive  patriarchal  or  representative  form,  under 
the  control  of  chiefs  and  councils ;  the  other  groaned  under  a  fearfully  despotic  rule. 
Both  cultivated  maize  and  tobacco ;  both  raised  species  of  the  |)otato,  of  beans,  and 
of  melons.  In  the  northern  latitudes,  in  lieu  of  the  tropical  fruits  indigenous  to 
the  more  southerly  regions,  the  papaw,  the  plum,  and  the  orange  offered  their 
tempting  products  for  the  use  of  man.  But  while  the  one  class  of  tribes  had  not 
emerged  from  the  simple  hunter  state,  and  still  roani'jd  in  pursuit  of  game  through 
the  vast  forests  of  America,  the  other  class  had  mftde  important  progress  in  arts, 
agriculture,  and  architecture,  which,  though  lenuiiig  to  their  advance  in  civilization, 
exercised  a  depressing  influence  on  their  moral  character  and  j)lunged  them  tenfold 
•Iseper  into  error  and  mysticism. 

The  investigation  of  the  antiipie  remains  of  labor  and  art  scattered  over  the 
Indian  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies  develops  a  general  correspondence  between 
them  and  those  common  among  the  Mexican  tribes  at  the  era  of  the  occupation  of 
the  Mexican  Valley  by  the  Chichemecs  and  Acolhuans,  or  Tezcucans,  which  event 
Clavigero  places  in  1170.  These  barbarous  tribes  were  not  conquered,  nor  was 
Tenochtitlan,  or  Mexico,  founded,  until  1324.  Could  the  veil  of  oblivion  be  lifted 
from  the  events  which  occurred  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  at  that  date,  i.e.,  one 
hundred  and  ninety-five  years  before  the  advent  of  the  Spaniards  in  Mexico,  that 
region  would  in  all  probability  be  found  to  have  been  thickly  inhabited  by  fierce, 
athletic,  and  barbaroas  tribes,  possessing  all  the  elements  of  progress  known  to  the 
Chichemecs  and  their  as«<jciates.  These  tribes  were  worshippers  of  the  sun,  whom 
they  propitiated  by  fires  kindled  on  the  summits  of  high  hills ;  they  erected  sepulchral 
mounds,  in  which  they  interred  the  remains  of  their  kings  or  rulers;  and  they  inces- 


ANTIQUITIES. 


96 


santly  maintained  the  same  fierce  strife  with  all  their  neighbors  which  has  charac- 
terized the  entire  Indian  race  during  three  and  a  half  centuries.  If  the  Mississippi 
tribes  defended  a  to^vn,  as  the  existing  remains  indicate,  by  ditches  and  pickets  in 
which  there  was  a  zigzag  gate,  conforming  to  the  Tlascalan  fashion,  precisely  the 
same  mode  was  prevalent  among  the  barbarous  tribes  of  Mexico  at  the  period  when 
our  Southern  stocks  segregated  from  them. 

So  few  traces  of  art  were  observable  among  the  tribes  along  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic,  from  the  Capes  of  Florida  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  that  when  the  population 
of  the  colonies  began  to  cross  the  Alleghanies  and  descend  into  the  rich  agricultural 
valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,  surprise  was  expressed  at  finding  concealed 
beneath  a  forest  growth  the  ruins  of  labor  and  the  vestiges  of  arts  which  appeared 
greatly  superior  to  any  that  were  known  to  have  been  practised  by  the  ancestors  of 
the  existing  tribes. 

The  accounts  of  the  fertile  soil,  genial  climate,  and  natural  beauty  of  the  Ohio 
Valley,  given  about  the  year  1770  by  hunters  and  adventurers,  appeared,  when 
recounted  east  of  the  mountsiins,  like  tales  of  some  newly-found  elysium  or  land 
of  promise.  The  desire  for  the  acquisition  of  landed  proi)erty  became  universal, 
America  rang  with  the  tale,  and  a  collision  of  races  was  the  result.  The  earliest 
explorations  of  a  reliable  character  were  those  which  date  from  the  era  of  Wash- 
ington's youthful  visit  in  1754.  The  first  grant  of  land  from  the  Indians  was  that 
made  to  William  Trent  and  his  associates  in  1768,  and  conveyed  the  tract  situate 
between  the  Monongahela  and  Ohio  Rivers.  Detached  tracts  were  located  and  set- 
tlements began  to  be  made  in  1770,  which  is  the  date  of  the  founding  of  Red  Stone, 
or  Brownsville,  west  of  the  mountain-slope  at  the  foot  of  Laurel  Hill.  Some  other 
locations  were  made  in  these  valleys  between  the  years  1770  and  1772.  At  the  latter 
jieriod  explorers  reached  the  noted  flats  covered  with  Indian  tumuli,  the  stream 
through  which  hence  received  the  name  of  Grave  Creek.  Fort  Harmar  was  erected 
in  1785,  at  the  junction  of  the  Muskingum  River  with  the  Ohio.  Within  a  couple  of 
years  thereafter  Congress  extended  its  jurisdiction  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  appointetl 
a  governor,  and  provided  a  juiliciary,  thus  esUiblishing  a  reliable  protection  for  the 
settlements.  On  the  7th  of  May,  1788,  General  Rufus  Putnam  and  his  New  Eng- 
land associates  landed  at  and  laid  the  foundation  of  Marietta.  This  may  be  asdumcd 
iis  the  earliest  period  at  which  attention  was  attracted  to  a  sj^ecies  of  Indian  antiquarian 
remains  bearing  evidence  of  art  superior  to  anything  known  among  the  existing 
Indian  tribes. 

Marietta  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  locations  where  the  antiquarian  remains  of  prior 
occupancy  existed,  and  still  exist,  in  one  of  their  most  striking  and  enigmatical  forms. 
They  embraced  the  acute  form  of  the  ordinary  Indian  sepulchral  mound,  but  were 
composed  of  a  raised  platform  of  earth,  in  the  general  form  of  a  parallelopipedon, 
pierced  with  gates  or  spaces,  clearly  used  ws  public  entrances ;  and,  if  the  outer  lines 
of  the  raised  work  be  supposed  to  have  l>een  surmounted  with  wooden  pickets  and 
turrets  for  marksmen,  the  whole  must  have  presented  a  palatial  display.  The  height 
of  the  level  floor  of  this  fortified  establishment  could  not  passibly  have  exceeded 


96 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


seven  or  eight  feet,  and,  though  its  solid  cubical  contents  were  considerable,  it  was 
not  probably  beyond  the  ability  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  populous  Indian  town  to  con- 
struct. Such  a  structure,  raised  by  the  Toltecs  or  Aztecs,  or  by  their  predecessors, 
would  not  have  excited  remark,  either  on  account  of  the  amount  of  labor  expended  on 
it,  or  because  of  the  skill  evinced  in  its  construction ;  but,  being  a  deserted  ruin,  in  the 
territories  of  tribes  who  possessed  neither  art  nor  industry  beyond  the  merest  require- 
ments of  pure  hunter  tribes,  it  became  a  theme  of  conjecture,  and  excited  wonder, 
the  more  so  as  the  discoverers  had  never  seen  the  evidences  of  semi-civilization 
evinced  by  the  Indian  tribes  of  Mexico.  As  the  country  became  more  densely  peopled, 
other  remains  of  an  analogous  kind  were  brought  to  light,  most  of  which  were  in  the 
form  of  small  sepulchral  mounds,  or  barrows,  ditches,  or  intrenchments  once  sur- 
mounted by  pickets ;  but  they  excited  little  remark,  except  as  bearing  evidence  of 
the  ordinary  appearance  of  an  Indian  town.  The  great  tumulus  at  Grave  Creek 
had  early  attracted  notice  on  account  of  its  size.  There  was  scarcely  a  tributary 
stream,  from  Pittsburg  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  which  did  not  yield  some  vestige 
of  this  kind ;  but  there  was  no  locality  in  which  the  earthworks  were  so  abundant 
and  complicated  as  in  the  Scioto  Valley.  Those  at  Chillicothe,  Circleville,  and 
Paint  Creek  evinced  the  existence  of  a  once  numerous  ancient  population.  The 
entire  area  of  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  as  well  as  the  surround- 
ing western  borders  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  appears  to  have  been  the  theatre 
of  dense  Indian  occupancy,  partial  cultivation,  and  a  peculiar  character  of  inter- 
nal commerce.  There  the  antiquary  found  specimens  of  hammered  native  copper, 
steatites  for  amulets  and  pipes,  the  delicate  raarginolla  shell,  mica,  obsidian,  and 
hornstone,  suitable  for  arrow-heads.  The  art  of  making  cooking-pots  and  vases 
from  tempered  clay  was  understood  and  practiseil  by  all  the  tribes  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  to  the  farthest  extent  north  and  east.  The  conch  and  other  heavy  sea- 
shells  were  ingeniously  carved  into  medals,  beads,  and  wampum.  An  extensive  trade 
was  carried  on  in  native  copper  mined  from  the  basin  of  Lake  Superior.  The  fine 
red  pipe-stone  from  the  dividing  grounds  between  the  Missouri  and  the  Mississippi 
has  been  found  in  the  antique  Indian  graves  around  Oswego  and  Onondaga.  Wrist- 
bands and  chisels  of  hammered  native  copper  have  been  of  frequent  occurrence. 
The  tips  of  the  horns  of  quadrupeds  were  used  as  awls ;  and  a  thin,  tubular  piece  of 
silicious  clay-slate,  worked  into  the  shape  of  a  parallelogram  and  pierced  with  two 
orifices,  was  employed  to  separate  the  strands  in  making  cords  or  ropes.  Thin  pieces 
of  bone,  with  an  eye  delicately  drilled  in  them,  served  the  purpose  of  bodkins.  Mor- 
tars for  crushing  corn  were  scooped  out  of  solid  pieces  of  rock.  Fire  was  prodiu-ed 
by  the  rapid  rotation  of  a  stick,  with  a  string  and  bow.  Disccidal  stones,  fabricated 
with  great  labor  from  pieces  of  hard  granite  and  porphyry,  were  used  in  games. 
Chisels  made  of  hard  stone  were  employed  for  removing  the  incinerated  part  of 
trunks  of  trees  in  the  process  of  felling  them,  and  also  in  converting  them  into 
canoes.  Tomahawks,  in  the  8ha|)e  of  lunettes,  having  sharp  {)oints  and  an  orifice 
in  which  to  insert  a  handle,  supplied  the  place  of  iron  blades.  Smoking-pipes  were 
formed  of  clay ;  but  these  cher'shed  articles  were  generally  carved  out  of  stone  with 


«.•.!<■  2;3 


V  '...Li    ;r.r.-.-r 


ANTIQUITIES. 


97 


much  skill  and  ingenuity.  Long  mpoar-points  were  made  from  chert  and  hornstone. 
Fleahing  instruments,  used  in  the  primary  process  of  preparing  skins,  were  made 
from  porphyry  and  other  hard  stones.  The  manual  art«  of  the  Indians  were  well 
adapted  to  their  condition  and  necessities.  They  ingeniously  made  a  8])ecies  of  fish- 
hook, sinkers,  and  spears  from  compact  bone ;  their  war-clubs,  bows,  arrows,  and 
canoes  were  constructed  with  as  much  skill  as  those  of  the  semi-civilized  tribes  of 
Polynesia.  Their  musical  instruments  consisted  of  a  pipe  or  flute,  tambourine,  drum, 
and  rattles.  The  attempts  they  made  to  sculpture  objects  in  natural  history  on  their 
pipes  and  va»scs  exhibited  much  spirit ;  and  tlieir  braided  work  on  pouches,  as  well  as 
on  the  stems  of  their  pipes  of  state,  displayed  the  exercise  of  much  patient  ingenuity. 
Had  not  warfare  so  completely  engrossed  their  minds,  they  must  have  made  rapid 
advances  in  the  arts.  Stones,  on  which  were  carved  figures  for  embossing  skins,  or 
fabrics  of  bark,  intended  to  be  used  as  clothing,  were  manufactured  with  considerable 
skill. 

The  mounds  erected  by  the  Indians  varied  greatly  in  size.  The  largest  spherical 
circumference  of  any  of  these  mounds  is  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  feet,  and  the 
smallest  twenty  feet.  The  greatest  height  attained  is  ninety  feet ;  and  the  two  prin- 
cipal mounds,  those  of  Cahokia  and  Grave  Creek,  could  not  contain  much  less  than 
three  million  square  feet  of  earth.  The  most  copious  evidences  of  the  density  of  the 
former  population,  and  of  their  cultivation,  were  found  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  on 
the  extensive  and  fertile  alluvial  plains  in  Illinois,  opposite  to  the  present  city  of  St. 
Louis,  thence  extending  to  Kiiskiuikia  and  the  junction  of  the  Ohio,  and  up  the  valley 
of  the  latter  into  the  territory  of  the  ancient  Andastes,  Eries,  and  Iroquois.  The 
Scioto  Valley  must  have  contained  a  dense  hunter  and  semi-agricultural  population 
previous  to  its  occupancy  by  the  Shawneos,  and  the  Grave  Creek  flats  appear  to  have 
been  the  central  location  of  populous  tribes.  The  most  striking  evidences  of  agricul- 
tural in<lui<try  were  disclosed  in  the  forest-s  and  prairies  of  Indiana  and  Southern 
Michigan,  during  the  settlement  of  the  country,  between  the  years  1827  and  1837. 
Those  points  of  the  rich  domains  of  the  AVcst  may  be  conjectured  to  have  supplied 
the  means  of  subsistence  for  the  aboriginal  miners  of  Lake  Superior.  The  skill 
evinced  in  that  work  does  not  appear  to  be  beyond  the  capacity  of  a  semi-barbarous 
people.  Mauls  of  stone,  and  the  elements  of  fire  anil  water,  were  the  principal  agents 
employed.  The  natural  lodes  and  veins  of  native  copper  for  which  that  region  is  so 
remarkable  were  followed  horizontally.  Ladders,  formetl  from  trees  by  cutting  off" 
the  branches  at  a  short  distance  from  the  trunk,  sufficed  for  descendin  inio  the 
pits ;  and  levers  of  timber  were  employed  for  lifting  the  smaller  pieces  ol  ore,  the 
larger  masses  being  frequently  letl  in  the  veins.  The  great  mass  of  copper  found  on 
the  Ontonagon,  in  early  times,  was  one  of  these  which  they  were  evidently  compelled 
to  abandon. 

The  Aztecs  did  not  drive  out  or  conquer  the  barbarous  tribes  of  Anahuac  and 
obtain  the  mastery  of  that  valley  until  1325.  There  are  no  reasons  for  believing 
that  the  useful  metals  were  known  to,  or  mining  practised  at  all  by,  the  Chichemec 
or  Acolhuau  stock,  and  until  this  branch  of  their  arts  was  developed  the  Northern 

13 


I 


98 


TIIK  INDIAN  TIIIBES  OF   THE   UNITKI)  STATES. 


trik'8  wero  in  ii  ptwition  to  fiinuHh  thoni  with  Hiipplies  of  roppor  and  the  crude 
miifcriiil  for  the  inamifactiiri'  of  l)roiiz(>.  TluTf  is  lilifwine  iiinpht  reiiHon  for  Itciicving 
thiit  thi'  j)rocefis  of  ininiiig  in  tlio  hititiidcM  of  the  rcfjioii  of  Liikt'  Superior  wiw  curried 
on  periodically  by  [n'rwuiH  wlio  derived  their  mmtenuiico  from,  or  who  pernmnentiy 
refiided  in,  the  genial  plainH  south  of  the  great  laiic.  The  exphirution  appears  to  liavo 
been  suddenly  abandoned  for  some  cause,  ua  if  the  miners  had  been  driven  ott'  Ity  un 
inroad  of  barbarous  hordes. 

The  fortilications  constructed  by  the  Mississippi  Valley  tribes  wero  well  adapted 
to  the  partieidar  kind  of  enemy  to  be  encountered.  Lines  of  pickets  were  placed 
around  a  village  situated  on  an  eminence,  or  in  tlu(  valley,  or  on  the  plain.  Ditches 
formed  no  part  of  the  defensive  plan,  at  leiust  in  their  technical  nulitary  sense.  They 
were  sometimes  located  without  the  walls,  and  occa-sionally  within.  In  the  former 
cu«e  they  denote  a  contingent  state  of  hd)or  in  the  construction,  in  the  latter  they 
appear  to  have  been  intended  as  pits  of  refuge,  or  for  heroic  resistance, — an  Indian 
feature  in  lighting.  The  principal  artistic  feature  in  the  construction  appears  to  have 
been  the  gate,  which  wius  in  all  cases  formed  according  to  the  Tliwcahin  i)lan,  though 
varied  in  sundry  ways.  The  principal  object  appears  to  have  been  to  lead  the  enemy 
into  a  labyrinth  of  passages,  in  which  lie  would  become  perplexed  how  to  proceed. 
Sections  of  curved  walls  produced  the  same  effect,  and  a  small  mound-shaped  re<loubt 
was  sometimes  used. 

The  tumuli,  or  mounds,  constituted  no  part  of  the  military  defence,  though  fre- 
quently located  at  or  near  the  intrenched  towns,  but,  being  devoted  exclusively  to 
ecclcsia-stical  or  sepulchral  purposes,  they  were  under  the  care  and  control  of  the 
Indian  priesthood.  Some  of  the  smalh'r  nnmnds  had  been  originally  merely  circular 
altars  of  earth  a  few  feet  in  height,  but  after  serving  this  purpose  a  long  time  they 
were  heaped  up  with  loose  earth  into  the  sha[)e  of  cones  and  letl  as  uiemorials  of  the 
Indian. 

The  first  formal  attempt  made  to  investigate  the  remains  of  Western  antiquities 
was  instituted  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Antiipiarian  Society.  The  primary 
volume  of  the  c(dlectiims  of  this  Society  wjus  published  in  1820,  under  the  title  of 
Archieologia  Americana.  In  tins  work  the  descrij)tions,  accojnpanietl  with  plates, 
which  were  furnished  l)y  Mr.  Atwater,  comprise  the  earthworks  and  mounds  at 
Newark,  Marietta,  Circleville,  Paint  Creek,  I'ortsuKmth,  in  the  Little  Mianu  Valley, 
at  (rrave  Creek,  and  at  other  places  in  the  Ohio  Valley  and  in  the  Western  States. 
The  anti(pdties  of  the  country  had  not  then  been  studied,  and  Mr.  Atwater  is  en- 
titled to  high  praise  for  his  zeal  and  assiduity  in  introducing  a  .subject  of  interesting 
historical  resear<-h  and  philosophical  speculation  to  the  public  consideration.  The 
attention  of  scientific  men  in  the  United  States  had  not  previously  been  directed  to 
the  study  of  antiquarian  remams.  Hut  few  were  of  the  opinion  that  anything  left  by 
a  savage  people  who  jtossessed  neither  urt«<,  letters,  nor  monuments  would  repay 
elalx)rate  in(piiry,  if  inch-ed  worthy  even  of  remembrance.  Students  of  history  and 
scholars  were  not  then  a  numerous  class,  and  even  they  were  unacquainted  with  the 
evidences  of  superior  Indian  art  and  skill  which  had  been  developed  in  Mexico  and 


Ayrjijumi's. 


w 


Peru.  The  provulont  imprrHwioii  in  Mr.  AtwutiTH  tlino  wuh  that  thi'so  unti(iuHriiin 
vostigflfl,  tlitnif^h  thoy  evinci'd  but  little  urt,  were  the  work  ul'  Honie  other  uiul  more 
iKlvuiiced  nice,  iiiul  not  iittributuble  to  the  unci'Htrul  line  of  the  exiHting  tribcH.  Yet 
then'  lire  sonu^  works  of  art  luul  labor  in  the  MiHHin8i|»j)i  Valley  conHtrueteil  during 
the  uiitifiiiarian  period  greatly  rewenibling  those  of  the  Mexiean  tribcn.  They  had, 
it  M  true,  letw  Htiniulus  to  artistic  etlbrt  and  art  in  the  natural  history  and  eliniatoh)gy 
of  the  country.  The  flora  of  the  North  did  not  comprise  the  eotton-plant,  the 
lu^<('i(>iis  fruits,  the  legumes,  the  rich  dyes  and  drugs,  and  other  productions  peculiar 
to  the  tropics,  which  had  been  ehimcnt^  of  industry  to  the  native  Indians  of  Mexico, 
its  mineralogy  included  none  of  the  native  precious  metals.  The  zeu  niui/e  watt 
convened  north  to  about  latitude  10°,  and  disseminated  to  the  farther  shores  of  New 
ICiigland,  and  even  to  the  sourees  of  the  Mississippi.  The  tobacco-plant  wa«  also 
cultivated  in  some  of  the  temperate  latitudes;  but  it  is  inferred  that  these  Northern 
Indians  were  seduced  into  the  line  of  barbarism  by  the  ready  means  of  subsistence 
iiU'orded  by  the  deer  and  the  buffalo,  which  ranged  freely  through  the  foresbs  anil 
plains. 

In  1H4H,  some  twenty -eight  years  sidwequent  to  Mr.  Atwater's  examinations,  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  published  in  the  first  volume  of  it«  Transactions  a  full  and 
comprehensive  memoir  on  the  subject,  under  the  caption  o'  "  Monuments  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,"  the  information  contained  therein  having  been  derived  from  jiersonul 
surveys  principally  made  by  Mr.  E.  G.  Stpiier  and  Dr.  Davis.  In  this  work  de- 
scriptiona  are  presented  of  the  ])rineipal  earthworks  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Valleys  from  minute  instrumental  examinations.  Whatever  had  been  previously 
described  is  reproduced,  with  much  new  nuittcr  respecting  mounds,  fortifications, 
altars,  articles  of  art,  and  other  remains  of  human  labor  and  ingenuity  found  scat- 
tered over  those  vast  plains  and  valleys.  The  prominent  impression  produced  in  the 
minds  of  tlu«e  writers  by  a  survey  of  this  field  is  that  the  country  must  have  been 
inhabited  by  a  population  vastly  more  dense  than  any  which  ha.s  existed  there  since 
its  discovery,  or  else  that  these  accumulated  labors  are  the  results  of  much  longer 
and  more  indefinite  periods  of  occupation  than  is  generally  supposed.  One  great  merit 
of  this  work  is  that  extravagant  theories  are  avoided.  There  is,  however,  a  gloss 
thrown  over  rude  and  enigmatical  monuments  which  presupposes  the  wcupation  of 
the  valley  in  former  ages  by  a  people  more  advanced  in  arts  and  polity  than  the 
ii'iuote  ancestors  of  the  present  race  of  Indians.  This  conclusion,  which  is  produced 
l»y  the  actual  declension  of  Indian  art  in  the  North  since  its  first  occupancy,  had 
been  the  tluiory  of  Mr.  Atwater  in  1820 ;  it  had  been  entertained  by  (General  I'utnam 
and  the  Ohio  colonists  in  1787,  and  by  Dr.  Stiles,  president  of  Yale  College,  to  whom 
till'  facts  were  reported. 

A  prominent  feature  in  the  Smithsonian  memoir  is  a  description  of  the  fortified 
lines  erected  around  the  escarpment  of  abru]>t  hills,  which  eomnuinded  a  view  of  the 
valleys  and  plains,  and  gave  great  capacity  of  defence  to  a  comparatively  small  body 
of  men.  This  appears  to  have  been  the  Indian  mode  of  fortification,  requiring  but 
little  lalwr  and  lexs  art,  yet  evincing  a  strong  natural  judgment  as  to  the  best  means 


}    I 


\  '* 


I.  I 


f 


^n 


100 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


of  defence  against  missiles  and  hand-to-hand  warfare.  Passessing  no  metallic  instru- 
ments, trees  wert  felled  by  kindling  fires  aronnd  their  trunks  and  then  beating  ofi' 
the  incinerated  jiarts.  This  process  of  girdling  and  ringing  supplicil  them  with 
pickets  to  erect  arouiid  the  brows  of  eminences. 

Among  the  pecnliar  earthworks  of  the  Ohio  Valley  are  the  raised  earthen  plat- 
forms at  Marietta,  Ohio,  with  their  geometrical  lines  and  counter-lines  and  interior 
redoubts,  which  have,  on  account  of  their  anomalous  character,  been  frequently  re- 
lerred  to.  It  wiis  thought  by  the  early  discoverers  that  there  must  have  been  a 
subterranean  j)iussage  to  these  works  from  the  MuskinguTi  River.  A  mound  of 
acute  conical  form  near  the  smaller  platform  indicates  that  it  was  only  one  of  the 
numerous  specimens  of  the  Indian  archiU'cture. 

The  whole  field  of  anti(puirian  research,  as  represented  in  the  Mississippi  Valley 
monuments,  may  be  regarded  ius  the  local  nucleus  and  highest  point  of  development 
of  arts  and  industry  attaliiud  by  the  rod  race  at^er  their  segregation  from  the 
nomadic  Toltec  sioeka.  These  monun.ents  were  widely  scattered,  but  they  assume 
the  same  mixed  sepulchral  and  civic  character  which  is  apitarent  in  those  found 
along  the  Alleghany  branch  of  the  Oiiio,  in  Western  New  York,  and  in  otlicr  parts 
of  the  Union.  The  largest  mounds  in  the  Union,  and  those  which  are  truncated  or 
terraced,  bear  the  closest  resemblance  to  the  Mexican  teocallis.  Tlie'y  occupy  the 
most  southern  portions  of  the  Mississippi  V^alley  and  Florida.  They  become  less  in 
size  iis  we  advance  nortiiward,  and  ce;ise  entirely  after  reaching  the  latitude  of  Lake 
Pepin,  on  the  Upper  Missi.'sippi,  the  head-waters  of  the  Wisconsin,  and  the  mining 
excavations  of  Lake  Superior. 

Mouxns. 


When  the  Ai;glo-Saxon  race  began,  late  in  the  eighteenth  century,  to  cross  the 
Alleglianies,  d  to  explore  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  the  forest  was  observed  to 
have  encroadu'd  upon  and  buried  a  class  of  ruins  in  the  shape  of  tumuli,  barrows, 
abandoned  fields,  and  military  earthworks.  These  relics,  of  the  origin  of  which  the 
tribes  knew  nothing,  have  continued  to  be  the  theme  of  philosophical  speculation  to 
the  present  day.  They  have  been  variously  ascribed  to  Celtic,  Hebrew,  and  Aztec 
sources. 

This  new  period  of  geographical  and  anti(|uarian  discovery  followed  almost  imme- 
diately the  conclusion  of  the  ilelinitivc  treaty  of  peace  between  (Jrcat  IJritain  and  the 
United  States.  Thai  event  gave  s'-jpe  for  the  spirit  of  geographical  and  C(»mm('rcial 
enterprise  which  had  been  constantly  pushing  from  the  Atlantic  shores  westward. 
The  initial  ooint  of  .settleim  nt,  cons((|i;,  iit  on  this  t'caty,  was  Marietta,  at  the  numth 
of  the  Muskin'^um.  Accounts  of '.iiest!  anti(piitie  were  fir.st  published  by  Dr.  .Manas- 
seli  Cutler  a. id  the  Il<!v.  Thaddcus  M.  lliirris,  with  diagrams  of  tluf  antl(pi(i  works 
drawn  by  General  Rut'us  Putnam,  made  immediately  after  the  .settlement  of  the 
town.  The^e  accounts  and  reports  of  the  country  having  been  peopled  at  an  ante- 
rior period,  and  of  the  ruins  of  ancient  (K-cupancy  being  now  overrun  by  the  forest, 


I 
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ANTIQUITIES. 


101 


created  a  strong  sensatioti  at  a  time  when  antiquities  had  not  at  all  been  studied  in 
the  United  Stjites. 

Marietta  Mound. — It  was  found,  sis  the  country  became  more  thickly  settled,  that 
not  only  at  Marietta,  but  in  the  valleys  of  the  Miami,  Scioto,  Grave  Creek,  and  at 
various  other  places,  there  existed  the  most  unmistakable  evidence  of  such  ancient 
and  abandoned  occupancy  ;  and  this  immediately  became  the  fruitful  theme  of  specu- 
lation. From  1788,  the  date  of  the  settlement  of  Marietta,  to  1820,  a  period  of  great 
enterprise  in  txtending  the  settlements  of  the  West,  this  theme  was  under  continual 
popular  discussion,  and  found  its  way  into  many  of  the  evanescent  publications  of  the 
day.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  discoveries  of  the  mound-[)eriod  in  Ohio 
was  made  by  the  opening  of  a  small  tumulus  at  Marietta,  in  the  month  of  June,  1819, 
bv  l^r.  S.  P.  Ilildretli,  of  that  town.  This  mound  was  estimated  to  have  been  origi- 
nally about  ten  feet  high  and  thirty  feet  in  circumference.  Standing  in  one  of  the 
streets  of  the  town,  it  was  completely  removed.  It  turned  out  to  be  the  tumulus  of 
a  single  person,  whose  skeleton  denoted  a  height  of  about  six  feet.  With  the  remains 
wore  found  the  exterior  silver  ornaments  of  a  sword-belt,  its  silver  bosses,  and  a 
plummet  of  copper  and  silver,  which  are  described  and  figured  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  American  Antiiiuarian  Society,  vol.  i.  p.  1G8.  This  discovery,  while  it  is  not 
conclusive  of  the  era  of  the  Marietta  works,  appears  to  throw  some  light  on  their 
history.  Its  iliscoviTy  i)as  all  the  necessary  cliaractta-  of  authenticity  which  is  im- 
parted by  the  scientilie  experience  and  the  moral  standing  of  the  pei-son  who  announces 
it.  Tliese  indications  of  an  intrusive  civilization  in  the  Ohio  Valley  were  further 
sustained  by  observing  what  pur|)ort  to  be  tlie  ruins  of  a  covered  way  leading  from 
the  elevated  |)latforni  to  the  ^luskinguni  Uiver,  a  unique  discovery,  conclusively 
denoting  mori'  purpo.so  and  foresight  than  are  to  be  observed  of  the  pure  Indian 
epoch  in  otlier  places. 

Furt  Hill,  Elmira. — .Vnother  object  which  ha.s  excited  antiquarian  interest  is  a 
furtifu'd  eminence  called  Fort  Hill,  at  Elmira.  This  work  consists  of  a  prominent 
point  of  land  on  the  south  side  of  the  (.'hemung  Uiver,  one  of  the  sources  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna. It  is  situated  about  twtt  miles  above  Elmira,  Chemung  County,  New 
York.  The  plateau,  or  einiucuce  det'cndeil  by  works,  is  the  crest  of  a  hill,  the  river- 
sidi'  of  which  is  nearly  perpendicular,  consistin.,  of  slate-rock.  On  the  opposite  side 
this  crest  is  etpially  precipitous.  A  narrow  ravine,  through  which  a  small  stream 
j)iisses,  separates  two  e([ually  steep  mountaiiums  hills.  The  ascent  of  the  fortified 
point  of  the  bill,  which  commences  at  the  junction,  is  very  dillicult.  For  sonu>  one 
or  two  hundred  feet  the  path  is  barely  wiile  enough  for  one  lerson  to  ascend  aided 
by  till'  scattering  shrubbery.  It  then  widens,  so  that  t.'o  persons  might  a.sccnd 
al>rea.-<t  with  some  diilicully  for  the  next  hundred  feet.  Ai  this  distance  it  widens  to 
about  ten  or  twelve  fta-t,  alter  which  it  gradually  increases  in  width  for  a  distance  of 
seventy  or  eighty  rods,  where  the  emlmnkment  is  formed. 

This  crest  overlooks  and  commands  tlu;  surrounding  country.  It  is  an  admirable 
military  position  viewed  in  any  light.  It  is  defended  on  the  only  assailable  side  by 
ail  earthen  embankment  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length,  extending  completely 


\  .■vl 


f  .a 


102 


THE  LVDIA.y  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


across  the  high  ground.  A  body  of  men  placed  on  this  crest  with  missiles  could 
command  the  ])a8sage  of  the  river  and  prevent  the  ascent,  as  it  is  so  high  and  steep 
as  to  render  it  quite  impracticable  in  the  face  of  a  foe. 

The  embankment  is  from  six  to  nine  feet  broad  at  its  apex,  and  rises  from  three 
to  four  feet  above  the  natural  surface.  The  line  of  circumvallation  is  nearly  four 
miles  in  extent,  and  covers  an  area  of  several  hundred  acres.  Tradition  speaks  of  it 
as  having  been  higher  at  a  former  period,  and  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  palisadoed 
its  whole  length.  In  the  centre  there  is  a  vacancy  of  about  twelve  feet,  at  either  end 
of  which  there  is  a  break  in  the  (nirth-wall,  as  if  it  had  supported  the  fixtures  of  a 
gate.  The  entire  hill  is  now  colored  with  a  forest  of  oaks.  The  growth  is  smaller 
on  the  enclosed  area  than  in  the  forest  west  of  it,  denoting  that  this  area  had  once 
been  cleared.  There  is  room  'jnough  in  this  area  for  several  hundred  men  to  rally. 
It  is  approachable  only  from  the  west. 

In  the  year  1790  a  very  large  oak-tree  was  cut  down  on  the  southern  part  of  the 
line  of  this  embankment.  There  is  still  standing  on  it  a  pine  stump  four  feet  in 
diameter.  Not  less  than  six  hundred  years  can  probably  be  assigned  for  the  period 
of  its  abandonment,  which  would  indicate  a  period  corresponding  to  that  denoted 
by  the  forest  growth  in  the  area  of  the  stone  fort  discovered  by  Dr.  Locke  in  Adams 
County,  Ohio,  and  on  the  summit  of  the  gigantic  tumuli  at  Grave  Creek,  in  Western 
Virginia. 

Great  Mound  of  the  River  Roiuje. — One  of  the  richest  mounds  in  relics  and 
human  remains  Ls  known  as  the  "  Great  Mound  of  the  River  Rouge,"  in  the  stream 
from  which  it  takes  its  name,  al)0ut  four  and  a  half  miles  from  the  centre  of  Detroit. 
It  now  mea.sures  twenty  feet  in  height,  and  must  originally  have  measured  three 
hundred  feet  in  length  by  two  hundred  in  breadth. 

Cahokia. — In  a  group  t>f  sixty  or  more  mounds  between  Alton  and  St.  Louis,  stands 
the  most  magnificent  of  all  the  Mound-Builders'  works,  the  great  mound  of  Cahokia, 
opposite  St.  Louis,  wliich  rose  to  a  height  of  ninety  feet,  and  extended  its  huge  mass 
in  the  form  of  a  iKirallelograni  with  sides  •.^loa.'^r  ing  respectively  seven  hundred  by 
five  hundred  feet.  On  the  southwest  there  wa.-<  a  terrace  one  hundred  and  sixty  by 
three  hundred  feet,  reached  by  means  of  a  graded  way.  The  summit  of  the  pyramid 
is  truncated,  affording  a  platform  two  hundred  hy  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Upon 
this  platform  stands  a  conical  mound  ten  feet  high. 

Furt  Ancltiif. — IVrhaps  the  most  remarkal)le  fortification  left  by  the  Mound- 
Builders  is  that  known  as  Fort  Ancient,  Ohio,  on  the  Little  Miami  River,  forty-two 
miles  northeast  of  Cincinnati.  It  occupies  a  terrace  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river, 
two  hundred  and  thirty  fett  above  the  water-level.  The  place  is  naturally  strong, 
being  a  peninsula  <letended  by  two  ravines.  Its  entire  circuit  is  four  or  five  miles; 
cubic  yards  of  excavation,  (i28,8(X).  The  embankment  in  many  jdaces  is  twenty  feet 
in  j)erpendicular  height. 

It  is  estimated  that  there  are  ten  thousand  tumuli  in  Ohio,  one  thousand  or  fifteen 
hundred  of  which  have  enclosures.  In  Ross  County  alone  there  are  five  hundred 
mounds  and  one  hundred  enclosures.     A  conspicuous  feature  in  these  works,  inif)re88- 


ANTIQUITIES. 


103 


ing  the  beholder  most  forcibly,  is  the  unity  of  design  and  mathematical  precision 
of  construction  evinced  in  the  enclosures,  in  which  are  represented  the  square,  the 
circle,  the  octagon,  and  the  rhomb.  Gateways,  parallel  lines,  outlooks,  and  other 
forms  indicate  an  intricate  and  yet  harmonious  system.  The  most  complex,  if  not 
the  most  extensive,  of  these  works  are  in  the  Licking  Valley,  near  Newark.  It  is 
evident  that  they  are  the  result  of  the  labor  of  a  vast  number  of  men,  directed  by  a 
single  governing  mind  having  a  definite  object  in  view.  Such  is  their  extent  that 
even  at  this  day  their  constructi'  n  would  occupy  many  thousands  of  men  for  many 
months.  Clearly,  these  people  had  fixed  habitations  and  derived  their  support  from 
the  soil. 

Works  of  a  sacred  or  religious  character  are  generally  square,  terraced,  and 
a.seended  by  graded  ways.  Sometimes  they  are  of  other  regular  forms,  and  are 
ascended  by  spiral  paths,  coinciding  with  the  teocallis  of  Mexico  and  the  topes  of 
India.  One  of  these  ancient  sepulchral  mounds,  on  the  banks  of  Brush  Creek, 
Adams  County,  Ohio,  is  in  the  form  of  a  serpent  one  thousand  feet  long,  gracefully 
curved,  and  terminating  in  a  triple  coil  at  the  tail.  Its  mouth  is  wide  open,  as  if  in 
the  act  of  swallowing  or  ejecting  an  oval  figure,  suggesting  the  cosmological  idea  of 
the  serpent  and  the  egg. 

Area  Embraced. — The  area  which  is  embraced  by  works  of  this  kind  is  very  large. 
West  of  the  Alleghanics  it  takes  in  the  greater  portion  of  the  entire  Mississippi 
Valley,  extending  to  Minnesota  and  the  banks  of  many  of  its  confluent  streams. 
The  Valley  of  the  Ohio  appears  to  have  been  a  favorite  field  of  ancient  occupancy. 
Its  fertile  soil,  its  mild  climate,  its  varied  resources,  and  its  picturesque  character  and 
l)oautics  appear  to  have  been  as  well  appreciated  and  understood  liy  its  ancient  as  they 
lire  by  its  present  inhabitants.  That  its  pos.session  was  coveted,  \va.s  long  clHiished, 
and  perhaps  was  often  fought  for,  is  indicated  by  the  Inrire  number  of  mounds  and 
ndd-works  of  various  character  which  have  been  discli  liy  its  modern  settlement. 
The  Valley  of  the  Scioto  appears,  in  particular,  to  have  su.-  >iii«'d  a  nunu  lous  ancient 
popidation,  who  left  their  altars,  tunuili,  and  places  of  strong  defence  tn  attest  a  power 
and  strength  which,  we  say  unhesitatingly,  made  Chillicothe  il«  central  oap'tal 
Other  parts  of  this  stream,  as  at  Marietta,  Gallipolis,  the  Great  Miami,  anl  numerous 
minor  sites,  attest  by  their  monumental  remains  the  residence  and  dominion  of  tribes 
liaviiig  considerable  power. 

The  long  and  fertile  area  of  the  American  bottom  opposite  St.  Louis  appears  to 
liiive  Imhmi  another  central  seat  of  this  occupancy,  and  the  relative  positions  ol  the 
Monk  mound  and  its  satellite  mounds  furnish  in  some  respects  a  strong  coincidence 
witii  the  astronomical  and  a.strological  structures  of  the  Toltec  race. 

In  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  ahmg  the  borders  of  the  lower  Mississippi 
the  number  of  works  of  defence  and  the  deeply  idolatrous  character  of  the  ancit m 
inhabitants  are  denoted  l)y  other  remains,  which  are  seen  to  have  covered  large  areas 
of  the  most  valual)le  and  fertile  portions  of  those  States.  These  arelueologieal  ves- 
tiges extvMid  eastwardly  and  then  northeastwardly  from  Mississippi  and  Ix)uisiana, 
through  Alabama,  Florida,  and  Georgia,  to  South  Carolina,  where  a  work  of  this 


V: 

s. 


\ 

-'v.' 


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104 


THE  INDIAN   TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


kind  exists  on  the  estate  of  the  late  Hon.  John  C.  Calhoun,  which  is  called  Fort 
Hill.  They  were  observed  in  the  region  traversed  by  De  Soto  simply  truncated  so 
as  to  receive  a  superstructure  of  wood.  Though  generally  small,  they  were  im- 
posing, reaching  an  elevation  of  from  nine  to  ninety  feet,  and  having  a  diameter  of 
from  twenty  to  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  feet.  He  encountered  two  stockaded  works 
built  of  tiniLcr,  namely,  at  Mauvila  (Mobile),  where  he  fought  his  great  battle,  and 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  River,  where  stood  the  fortress  called  Alibamo.  The 
striking  remains  of  eaiihworks  in  the  Ohio  Valley  lie  several  hundred  miles  north 
of  the  utmost  point  reached  by  the  Spanish  adventurer. 

Works  of  this  character  again  appear  in  Western  New  York  in  the  ancient  ter- 
ritories of  the  Iroquois,  extending  as  far  south  iis  Auburn ;  they  are  seen  on  the 
highest  and  oldest  ridge  of  land,  extending  through  Erie  and  Chautauqua  Counties 
to  the  portages  of  the  Alleghany  Iliver.  It  is  not  apparent  that  all  these  works 
are  of  the  same  strong  military  character  and  required  so  many  hands  to  defend 
them  as  the  prime  fortifications  of  the  West,  but  they  embrace  the  same  principles, 
so  far  a.s  they  are  carried  out,  and  the  sepulchral  and  general  remains  indicate  the 
same  era. 

Tiiere  is  one  feature  in  which  the  works  found  in  the  West  all  agree.  They 
evince  a  strong  natural  capacity  for  defence.  They  cover  the  highest  points  of  land, 
and  are  so  placed  as  to  command  the  approaches.  The  form  and  size  of  the  work  to 
be  adoi)ted  were  immaterial.  Whenever  a  hill-top  or  a  j)lateau  was  occupied,  it  was 
walled  or  ditched  in  according  to  its  geological  outlines.  The  principle  of  the  bastion 
was  necured  by  any  heiglits  of  land  which  commandi d  a  length  of  wall  or  jticketing. 
Traverses,  generally  roscmbling  a  segmert  of  a  circle,  were  drawn  in  front  of  the 
gates,  sally-ports,  or  openings.  Small  hay-cock  mounds  were,  in  other  situations, 
erected  to  rake  with  missiles  these  entrances.  The  entrances  themselves  were  some- 
times of  an  oval  or  zigzag  form.  Difficulties  of  ingress  and  facilities  of  issue  of  a 
hand-to-hand  force  wore  created  by  curved  or  parallel  lines,  or  by  gaps  suitably 
defended. 

lyieir  Object. — The  kind  and  state  of  art  which  were  necessary  to  erect  the 
mounds  and  mound-itlatforins,  and  which  characterize  the  Mound-liuilders,  could 
best  be  determined  by  fixing  beforehand  the  object  of  these  structures.  A  great 
deal  of  speculation  has  Ixhmi  indulged  in  on  this  siilijcct.  That  they  were  intended 
to  be  primarily  tumuli  was  the  opinion  of  JeftVrson  (see  his  "Notes  on  Virginia"). 
They  are  of  all  sizes,  from  artificial  mounds  a  few  feet  in  In  i^rlit  and  eighteen  or 
twenty  feet  in  circumference  to  hillocks  ninety  feet  in  altitude  and  sometinuvs  reaching 
at  the  base  a  girth  of  seven  hundred  feet.  Their  magnitude  appears  to  have  Ih-cu 
dependent  upon  the  size  of  the  town  or  village  and  the  amount  of  its  population.  It 
rested,  also,  on  the  fact  whether  the  structure  Wiis  designed  to  be  a  public  or  a  private 
tumulus,  or  mausoleum. 

No  thought  existed  at  the  period  of  their  discovery  that  Indian  art  could  not  ac- 
complish these  works.  "  These  works,"  says  (Jovernor  Cass,  an  acute  observer,  "  are 
not  confined  to  any  particular  situation.     We  fiinl  them  on  hills  and  ii    valleys, 


ANTIQUITIES. 


105 


in  positions  favorable  to  military  defence,  and  in  others  where  they  are  completely 
commanded  by  elevated  ground,  and  where  defence  would  be  impracticable. 

"A  supply  of  water  has  not  been  deemed  an  indispensable  requisite.  Between 
Detroit  and  Chicago,  in  the  midst  of  an  immense  plain,  and  remote  from  any  stream, 
one  of  these  works  yet  remains.  There  are  others  similarly  situated  with  regard  to 
water,  and  upon  the  Muskingum  there  are  some  on  the  most  barren  and  elevated  hills. 

"  They  are  found  in  every  state  of  preservation  and  decay.  In  some  the  walls 
are  at  least  fifteen  feet  high,  particularly  near  Newark  and  Lebanon,  Ohio,  and  the 
whole  work  is  as  distinct  as  it  was  on  the  day  of  its  completion.  Others  are  almost 
mouldered  away,  and  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  them  from  the  natural  inequalities 
of  the  ground.  Some  of  them  have  ditches  and  some  of  them  are  without,  and 
these  ditches  are  as  often  found  on  the  inside  as  the  outside  of  the  walls.  There 
is  an  elevated  mound  in  Marietta  enclosed  with  a  wall,  and  having  a  ditch  be- 
tween the  wall  and  the  mound.  It  is  impossible  that  this  wall  and  ditch  could 
have  been  made  for  any  purpose  of  defence,  because  the  elevation  of  the  mound, 
which  occupies  the  whole  interior  space,  would  have  exposed  those  within  to  the 
attack  of  the  assailants.  Their  form  is  as  various  as  their  situation.  They  are 
square,  round,  ellipticsil,  hexagonal,  and  in  almost  every  shape  which  fancy  can 
imagine." 

That  the  tumulus  proper  was  not  intended  as  a  work  of  defence  could  not  be 
more  conclusively  shown  than  it  is  by  these  remarks  of  a  person  whc'  was  very  familiar 
with  the  topic  of  Western  antiquities.  The  mound  was,  however,  frequently,  when 
erected  on  low  grounds,  connected  with  walls  and  ditches,  which  in  these  cases  were 
clearly  designed  to  defend  the  mounds  themselves,  which  were  the  sepulchres  of  their 
forefathers,  and  may,  under  the  mythologic  belief  of  the  Indians,  have  been  designed 
to  incite  the  defenders  to  greater  acts  of  heroism. 

It  is  stated  by  Colonel  Hawkins  that  there  are  five  conical  mounds  of  earth  on 
an  isolated  bluff  on  the  river  Coosa,  which  he  regards  as  having  been  places  of  refuge 
ill  seasons  of  high  water.  The  largest  of  these  artificial  mounds  of  refuge  is  thiity 
yarils  in  diameter  and  seventeen  feet  high,  and  the  base  of  each  of  the  mounf*;*  on 
the  bluff  is  forty-five  feet  above  the  river.  The  maximum  rise  in  late  years  (1793 
to  179'J)  of  this  river  he  states  to  be  forty-seven  feet ;  hence  the  fugitives  from  the 
Hood  would  have  been  lifted  fifteen  feet  above  the  point  of  inundation.  He  also  men- 
tio'is,  as  a  tradition  then  current,  that  the  Creeks,  from  the  era  in  which  they  had 
dwelt  in  the  valleys  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  prior  to  their  migration,  had  bec'i  in 
tlif  habit  of  constructing  such  mounds  of  refuge  as  shelters  from  the  sudden  inun- 
dations of  those  rapidly-rising  waters  in  the  great  slopes  esist  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
These  artificial  mounds,  it  is  stated  by  that  observer,  were  also  designed  to  entomb 
the  remains  of  their  distinguished  men. 

But  we  are  to  incpiire.  Does  the  mound,  or  the  defensive  work,  or  any  of  the 
surrounding  objects,  of  antiquarian  character,  imply  a  degree  of  skill,  or  art,  or  of 
mere  numual  lal)()r,  superior  to  that  which  may  be  a-ssigned  to  the  ancestors  of  the 
present  race  of  Indians?     Mounds  may  be  considered  as  tumuli  proper,  propyla  or 

U 


v!   sifj! 


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100 


TlfE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF   TI.'i:   UNITED  STATES. 


redoubt  mouiula  (iit  the  outer  or  inner  wide  of  gates),  and  burrows,  or  small  structures 
of  eartli,  generally  under  nine  or  ten  feet  in  height.  To  these  may  be  added  the 
small  JSeiotie  mounds  of  saerifice,  the  eeeentrie  totemic  or  imitative  mounds,  and  the 
miuwive  truneated  square  or  oval  platform-mounds. 

CJeneral  Oeorge  Kogei-s  C'larke,  a  man  extensively  acquainted  with  Western  geog- 
raphy, as  w«'ll  lus  with  the  Indian  manners  and  customs,  believed,  from  the  inspection 
of  these  remains  of  embankment.s,  redoubts,  and  mounds  of  earth,  that  they  were  due 
to  the  predecessors  of  the  present  race  of  Indians,  or  of  men  of  similar  language, 
manners,  customs,  and  arts. 

"  iSome  of  them,"  says  (leneral  Clarke,  "have  been  fortified  towns,  others  encamp- 
menl.s  intreiu-hed,  but  tlit>  greater  part  have  been  common  garrisoned  forts,  many  of 
them  with  towers  of  earth  of  considerable  height,  to  defend  the  walls  with  arrows 
and  other  missile  wciipons. 

"That  the  people  had  commerce  is  evident,  because  the  mouth  of  every  river  has 
been  fortified ;  where  the  land  was  subject  to  floods,  it  hius  been  raised  out  of  the 
way  of  water.  That  they  were  a  numerous  people  is  also  evident,  not  only  from 
their  many  works,  but  i  Iso  from  their  habitations  being  raised  in  low  lands.  I  had 
frequently  observed  seaitered,  in  what  we  call  the  low  country  on  the  Ohio,  little 
mounds,  that  I  took  to  be  graves,  sjich  as  Mr.  .lefl'erson  describes  ('Notes  on  Vir- 
ginia'), which  are  fre(iuent  all  over  this  country,  but  could  not  comprehend  them. 
What  could  induce  the  people  to  bring  their  dead  several  miles  from  the  high  into 
the  low  lands  for  burial? 

"That  they  had  great  armies  in  the  field  is  evi<Ient:  the  fortified  lines  in  dif- 
ferent part.s  would  have  recpiired  immense  armies  to  man  them.  One  in  the  Choc- 
taw country  is  several  miles  in  length,  tlie  one  Afr.  (^arver  menfi(ms  ('Carver's 
Travels'),  and  many  t/thers  in  different  directions,  but  at  considerable  distances 
from  each  other. 

"  That  important  pii^^ses  were  attended  to  by  them  is  evident,  because  they  are 
fortified.  Tiiousands  of  men  have  passed  the  Cuml>erland  Cap,  and  perhaps  but 
few  observers  have  taken  notice  of  the  curiosity  there.  The  gap  is  very  narrow,  and 
what  is  generally  viewed  a.s  a  little  hill,  that  nearly  fills  up  the  gap,  is  an  ancient 
fortress  for  the  defence  of  the  phu'e,  a  fine  spring  breaking  out  within  a  few  yards 
of  it.  That  they  made  use  of  wells  is  evident,  l)ecause  they  yet  appear,  in  many 
places,  lus  little  lta.sins  by  the  earth  wjuxhing  in.  The  one  in  the  ancient  fortress  at 
Ijouisville  wo-s  filled  up  by  Captain  Patten,  who  made  use  of  part  of  the  old  wall  for 
that  ])urpose. 

"  Covered  ways  to  water  are  common  ;  causeways  across  marshes  frequent.  The 
highroad  across  Little  (Irave  Creek  did,  and  I  suppose  still  does,  pass  over  an 
ancient  causeway,  made  of  sand  and  gravel,  across  a  marsh. 

"The  Indian  trailitions  give  an  account  of  tlu^'  works.  They  say  they  were  the 
works  of  their  forefathers;  tiiat  they  were  as  numerous  as  the  trws  in  the  wood; 
that  they  affronted  the  tJreat  8j>irit  and  he  made  them  kill  one  another.  The 
works  on  the  Missi.ssippi  near  the  Caw  River  (Kaskaskia)  are  among  the  largest  we 


ANTIQUITIES. 


107 


know  of.  The  Kaaktwkiu  chief,  Bapti.stc  Ducoign,  gave  me  a  history  of  this.  He 
Hiiid  tliat  was  the  palace  of  his  forefathers,  when  they  covered  the  whole  country 
and  had  large  towns ;  that  all  those  works  we  saw  there  were  the  fortifications  round 
the  town,  which  must  have  been  very  considerable ;  that  the  smaller  works  we  saw 
so  far  within  the  larger  comprehended  the  real  palace ;  that  the  little  mountain  we 
tliere  saw  flung  up  with  a  basin  on  top  was  a  tower  that  contained  part  of  the  guard 
belonging  to  the  prince,  as  from  the  top  of  that  height  they  could  defend  the  king's 
house  with  their  arrows,  etc." 

15a[)tiste  Ducoign,  who  is  particularly  referred  to  for  this  tradition,  was  a  Kas- 
kaskia  chief  of  intelligence  and  note,  living  on  the  Kaskaskia  River,  in  Illinois, 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  This  is  not  the  only  Indian  tradi- 
tion giving  iin  account  of  these  antiquarian  monuments  of  a  by-gone  era  which  have 
elicited  so  much  remark.  Tiie  traditions  of  the  ancient  tribe  of  the  Lenni  Lenape, 
recorded  by  Mr.  Heckewelder  in  1819,  distinctly  refer  to  a  general  war  with  more 
southerly  and  westerly  nations,  against  whom  this  once  warlike  and  powerful  tribe 
was  engaged,  in  close  alliance  with  the  Iroquois.  They  are  called  by  him  Alligowi. 
Ileckciwekler  says  that  they  were  a  remarkably  tall  and  athletic  jieople,  and  that 
they  embraced  persons  of  gigantic  growth  compared  to  the  Lenape.  They  had  built 
regular  "  fortifi(!ations  and  intrenchments,"  many  of  which  he  had  seen,  and  two  of 
which  he  describes.  One  of  these  was  located  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Huron 
(now  called  Clinton  River),  Michigan,  which  empties  itself  into  the  nortli  side  of 
Lake  St.  Clair,  about  twenty  miles  from  Detroit.  In  the  year  178G,  when  this  dis- 
covery was  made,  the  ground  was  owned  and  occupied  by  a  Mr.  Tucker.  The  other 
work  referred  to  was  seated  on  the  south  banks  of  Lake  Erie,  east  of  Handusky  Bay, 
and  on  the  river  Huron,  of  Ohio,  about  six  or  eight  miles  from  the  open  shores  of 
Lake  Erie.  It  consisted  of  two  proper  intrenchments,  or  walls  and  banks  of  earth 
regularly  formed,  with  an  outer  ditch.  These  intrenchments  were  a  mile  ai)art. 
Outside  of  the  gateways  or  saliy-ports  of  each  wall  were  a  number  of  large  flat 
mounds,  which  his  Indian  guide  afhrmed  contained  the  bones  of  hundreds  of  the 
slain  Alligewi. 

Who  were  the  Mound-BHildersf — Rut  it  may  Ix;  inquired,  Had  the  ancestors  of 
the  pri'sent  race  of  Indians  skill  to  erect  the  fortifications  and  earthworks  which  are 
scattered  through  the  Mississippi  Valley?  Mr.  Caleb  Atwater,  an  antiquarian  writer, 
who  lived  in  Ohio,  where  tlu'se  works  have  always  commanded  great  interest,  writing 
in  1820,  discredits  the  particular  fact  of  the  /«////rtry  character  of  most  of  these  works, 
as  well  as  their  actual  nniiibvr.  "  Fii-st,  then,"  observes  he,  "as  to  the  immense 
inunber  of  military  works :  they  are  not  here.  The  lines  of  forts,  if  forts  they  were, 
cominencing  near  Cattaraugus  Creek,  New  York ;  those  at  Newark,  at  Circleville, 
on  I'aint  Creek;  one  on  the  Miami,  and  one  opposite  Portsmouth,  have  been  de- 
scribed ;  and  I  by  no  means  believe  that  even  all  these  were  real  forts.  Between  the 
Rocky  Miauitains  aiul  the  Alleghani(«,  the  Northern  lakes  and  the  Mexican  Gulf^ 
it  may  be  possible  that  there  were  originally  about  twenty  forts  to  defend  a  country 
nearly  iw  large  as  Europe,  and  these  were  probably  two  thousand  years  in  building, 


ip-^^ 


108 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


situated,  too,  in  a  thickly-Hcttled  country."  Mr.  Atwater  believed  that  these  earth- 
works were  archtcological  ovidonce-s  of  a  dense  occupancy  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
by  a  people  of  superior  civilization  and  of  another  race,  anterior  to  and  different  from 
the  ancestors  of  the  Indians. 

General  Clarke,  whose  opinions  are  entitled  to  great  weight,  deems  these  encamp- 
ments, ditches,  and  lines  of  defence  to  be  due  entirely  to  the  ancestors  of  the  present 
race  of  Indians.  In  favor  of  this  conclusion  he  adduces  the  additional  testimony  of 
Indian  tradition.  Since  his  examinations  were  made,  the  Mississippi  Valley,  which 
was  at  that  era  a  vast  and  sublime  wilderness,  has  been  fdled  with  a  civilized  popu- 
lation of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  various  Celtic  races  of  Europe.  The  labors  of 
agriculture  have  obliterated  many  of  the  earthworks  and  made  it  more  difficult  to 
form  a  judgment  of  their  extent  and  character.  Mr.  Schoolcraft's  impressions  also 
are  that  they  cannot  be  ascribed  to  a  people  of  high  civilization.  No  people  pos- 
sessing any  high  degree  of  art  and  knowledge  would,  in  his  opinion,  have  con- 
structed such  inartilicial  and  eccentric  works,  which  are  incapable  of  enduring  a 
siege.  Entire  towns  were  often  embmced  in  lines  of  defence,  together  with  the 
tumuli. 

That  many  of  these  mounds  are  the  results  of  human  labor  is  unquestionable,  but 
it  is  also  true  that  some  are  of  geological  origin.  One  of  the  most  regular  and  per- 
fect of  these  in  form  and  shape,  that  of  Mount  Joliet,  on  the  D&splaines,  in  Northern 
Illinois,  proved  of  diluvial  origin  when  excavated  in  1839  for  the  Illinois  Canal. 
The  great  double  mound  of  St.  Louis  is  purely  geological.  To  add  to  the  popular 
idea  of  its  being  artificial,  Indian  graves  had  been  dug  in  its  sides  and  on  its  summit. 
Credulous  people  have  indulged  in  many  ingenious  speculations  occasioned  by  the 
numerous  impositions  and  forgeries  which  have  been  essayed  in  connection  with  these 
mounds. 

The  Mound-Builders  appear  to  have  cultivated  public  fields,  situated  in  the  plains 
or  valleys,  near  some  fortified  hill,  where  the  whole  mass  of  the  population  could 
nightly,  or  as  danger  threatened,  resort.  The  very  great  area  of  ground  covered  by 
defences  in  many  j)laoes  is  a  strong  reason  for  supposing  that  the  military  work  itself 
was  a  town  or  village  where  the  women  and  children  were  under  permanent  protec- 
tion. In  the  wide  area  of  these  fortified  towns  they  could  erect  their  dwellings, 
which  were  probably  of  wood,  and  therefore  perishable,  and  have  left  no  truce.  The 
military  force  of  such  a  "  fenced  city"  or  town  wits  more  effective,  as  many  of  the 
females  could  be  emj)loyed  in  carrying  arrows  and  other  light  work.  There  were 
no  boml>H,  as  nowadays,  to  full  over  an  enclosure:  the  great  struggle  was  ulwuys  at 
the  gates,  which  were  nuiintuined  in  a  desj)erate  hund-to-hand  contest  with  darts  and 
clubs.  Such  mounds  as  those  at  Grave  Creek  and  Cahokia  indicate  not  only  a  dense 
agricultural  population,  l)ut  ulso  a  state  of  society  essentially  different  froi?i  that  of 
the  existing  race  north  of  the  tro[)icri. 

The  larger  mounds,  which  were  the  places  of  offerings  and  sacrifices  and  of  the 
singing  of  hymns,  were  outside  of  the  works.  These,  it  is  most  probable,  were  only 
approached  by  the  priests  before  or  after  the  conflict,  and  were  the  sites  of  public 


ANTIQUITIES. 


109 


supplications  and  public  tlrinksgivings.  It  wa«  no  desecration  of  the  object  to  which 
the  large  tumuli  were  dedicated  to  employ  them  aa  sepulchres  for  their  celebrated 
men,  but  rather  served  to  invest  them  with  additional  respect  and  sanctity. 

The  minor  mounds,  such  as  we  have  denominated  hay-cock  mounds,  appear  to 
have  been  seated  inside  or  outaide  of  a  defended  town  or  fort,  of  a  military  character, 
anil  were  a  sort  of  redoubt.  When  seated  at  places  distant  from  such  works,  they 
were  generally  mere  barrows. 

A  third  species  of  the  class  of  minor  mounds  were  evidently  of  an  altaric  charac- 
ter. This  appears  to  have  been  first  shown  by  Dr.  Davis  in  his  elaborate  examina- 
tion of  the  antiquities  of  the  Scioto  Valley.  That  offerings  were  made  by  fire  by  the 
Mound-Uuilders,  as  well  as  by  the  existing  race  of  Indians,  is  clearly  shown.  An 
altar  of  earth,  not  very  imposing  in  its  height  or  circumference,  was  made  by  them 
IVom  loose  earth,  in  which  two  simple  principles  were  observed,  namely,  those  of  the 
altar  and  the  pyramid.  In  shape  it  was  like  a  small  inverted  blunt  cone  or  tin  cup. 
None  exceeded  eighteen  feet  in  height,  with  a  base-diameter  of  twenty-five  feet.  It 
wiis  circular,  so  that  all  could  approach  and  stand  around  it,  and  concave  enough  at 
the  top  to  prevent  the  fire  from  tumbling  oft".  Here  the  people  could  freely  make 
tlieir  offerings  to  the  officiating  jossakeeds.  These  appear  to  have  consisted  most 
commonly  of  the  pipe  in  which  incense  had  been  offered,  and  which  was  prob- 
ably, from  its  ordinary  and  extraordinary  uses,  one  of  the  most  cherished  objects 
in  the  household. 

By  long  use  the  bed  of  the  loam  or  earth  composing  the  altar  wt)ul(l  become  hard, 
and  j)artake  in  some  mejisure  of  the  character  of  brick.  What  circumstances  deter- 
mined ita  disuse  we  cannot  say.  It  is  certain  that  in  the  end  the  fire  was  covered 
up,  with  all  its  more  or  less  burned  and  cracked  contents,  and  the  earth  heaped  up 
so  jis  to  bury  it  most  effectually  and  constitute  a  mound.  This  peculiar  formation 
was  first  exposed  by  the  action  of  the  river,  which  undermined  one  or  more  of  these 
Ktructures,  expasing  the  baked  red  line  of  earth  of  a  convex  form  which  had  made 
the  former  bed  of  the  altur,  and  upon  which  vast  numbers  of  sculptured  pipes  were 
fouiwl. 

Wiiiconsln  Mounds. — One  class  of  mounds,  the  simplest  of  all,  differ  wholly 
in  their  object  and  mode  of  construction,  as  well,  probably,  as  in  their  era  of  erec- 
tion, from  all  the  preceding  species.  These  are  called  the  imitative  and  Wisconsin 
mounds. 

These  symbolic  mounds,  or  monuments  of  earth,  consist  of  the  figures  of  animals 
raised  on  the  surface  of  the  open  country  and  covered  with  grass.  None  of  them 
exceed  ten  fet^t  in  height,  although  many  of  them  include  considerable  areas.  Their 
connection  with  the  existing  totemic  system  of  the  Indians  who  are  yet  on  the  field 
of  action  is  too  strong  to  escape  attention,  liy  the  system  of  names  imposed  upon 
tiie  men  composing  the  Algonkin,  Irof^juois,  Cherokee,  and  other  nations,  a  fox,  a 
bear,  a  turtle,  etc.,  is  fixed  on  as  a  badge  or  stem  from  vrhich  the  descendants  may 
trace  their  parentage.  To  do  this,  the  figure  of  the  animal  is  employed  as  an  heraldic 
sign  or  surname.     This  sign,  which  by  no  means  give^  the  individual  m»me  of  the 


i  'A 


^ 


no 


THE  IXDIAX  TltlBES  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


person,  is  called,  in  the  Aig»>nkin,  Totem,  or  "  town-mark."  These  people  must  have 
been  fUmiliur  with  tlio  miwtodon  or  elephant,  judging  from  the  "Big  Elephant" 
monnd  found  recently  a  few  miles  below  the  njouth  of  the  Wisconsin  liiver.  It 
is  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet  long,  its  other  proportions  being  in  accordance 
therewith.     Its  shajjo  is  indicated  by  its  name. 

A  tribe  could  leave  no  more  permanent  trat^e  of  an  esteemed  sachem  or  honored 
individual  than  by  the  erection  of  one  of  these  monuments.  They  are  clearly  sepul- 
chral, and  have  no  other  object  than  to  preserve  the  names  ot  distinguished  actors  in 
their  history.  The  Fox,  the  Bkau,  the  Wolf,  and  the  Eagle,  are  clearly  recog- 
nizable in  the  devices  published.  The  mounds  most  common  in  the  Mississipj)! 
Valley  are  sepulchral,  those  at  Grave  Creek  and  Miamisburg,  Ohio,  indicating  by 
their  groat  height  the  importjince  of  their  innuites  when  living. 

Age  of  the  Mounds. — Could  we  determine  the  age  of  those  works,  one  great  object 
in  their  consideration  would  be  attained.  The  opening  of  the  great  tumulus  of  Grave 
Crook,  in  Western  Virginia,  in  18.'J8,  revealed  the  mode  which  brought  structures  of 
earth  of  this  capacity  within  the  means  of  the  semi-industrial  tribes.  It  was  evident 
that  tiie  lowermost  of  tiie  two  ancient  vaults  discovered  was  of  vastly  the  more 
ancient  era.  It  api)oarod  conclusively  that  the  structure  was  the  result  of  com])ara- 
tively  trivial  sej)ulchr,il  labors  during  an  immense  period,  one  age  and  tribe  having 
added  to  another  the  results  of  its  easily  accomplished  and  slowly  accumulating  toils. 
It  also  appeared  that  a  mound-like  natural  hillock  had  boon  selected  as  the  place  of 
the  first  interment.  By  the  original  surface-line  of  the  sod,  disclosed  by  the  lower 
gallery,  it  was  further  shown  that  the  first  interment  was  in  a  vault  some  six  feet 
below  the  sod-line,  over  which  earth  was  heaped, — probably  by  carrying  it  up  in 
leather  bags  from  the  surrounding  plain.  The  personage  interred — judging  from 
his  ornaments,  and  from  the  attention  bestowed  in  excavating  a  square  vault,  lining  it 
with  timber  and  covering  it  with  stones — was  a  j>atriarch  or  ruler  of  trank.  Accu- 
mulations of  irregular  artiiicial  strata  of  yellow  and  black  sand,  with  a  carbonaceous 
appearance  and  alkaline!  and  acidulous  properties,  denoted  the  rise  of  the  structure 
through  the  slow  process  of  the  incineration  or  natural  decay  of  human  bodies.  So 
great  was  the  epoch  devoted  to  tliGse  sepulchral  labors  that  the  bones  had  undergone 
entire  decay,  and  every  osseous  vestige  had  submitted  to  decomposition  and  become 
blended  with  the  earth. 

The  ohh'st  inscription  in  America,  exclusive  of  the  muzzinabiks  or  rock-picto- 
graphs  of  the  Indians,  is  one  discovered  in  Onondaga  County,  New  York,  bearing 
the  date  of  l-JliO, — an  inscription,  manifestly  sepulchral,  which  appears  to  have  been 
due  to  gold  and  silver  hunters  who  accompanied  the  ill-fated  and  chivalrous  De 
Leon.     But  there  are  no  indicia  of  this  kind  resj)ecting  the  mound  j)eriod. 

With  regard  to  tiie  platform  mounds,  it  is  a  recorded  tradition  of  the  Musco- 
gees  and  Appalachian  tril)os  that  these  were  public  works,  laid  out  on  the  selection 
of  a  now  site  for  a  town,  and  engaged  in  immediately  by  the  whole  tribe,  to  serve  as 
the  offi(;ial  seat  for  tiieir  chief  ruler.  But  little  al)solnte  art  wius  recjuired  to  build  a 
tunnihis, — a  raised  teocalli  jilatform  or  earth  wall,  such  as  that  of  (.'ircleville,  Ohio. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


Ill 


The  nctiml  place  in  the  heiiveiiH  of  tlie  rising  and  the  setting  of  the  sun,  without 
marking  ita  solstitial  changos,  would  be  suilicicnt  to  guide  the  native  builder  in 
determining  with  general  exactitude  the  cardinal  points. 

liy  whom  the  mounds  were  built,  or  what  became  of  the  builders,  will  in  all 
probability  never  be  known.  From  the  decayed  condition  of  the  human  remains 
found  in  their  wonderfully  compact  and  dry  soil,  and  from  the  fact  that  none  of 
these  works  occur  on  the  lower  of  the  four  terraces  formed  by  the  subsidence  of  the 
Western  streams  at  as  many  ditterent  eras,  while  they  were  erected  promiscuously  on 
all  the  others,  their  age  ha.s  been  estimated  to  be  not  less  than  two  thousand  years. 
Mr.  Lewis  II.  Morgan,  judging  from  their  artificial  embankments,  their  implemcnta 
and  utensils,  and  their  selection  of  areas  poorly  jjrovided  with  lish  and  game,  pro- 
nounces them  agricidtural  or  Village  Indians  from  New  Mexico,  whose  disappearance 
was  gradual  and  voluntary,  the  attempt  to  transfer  the  type  of  village  life  of  New 
Mexico  to  the  Ohio  Valley  having  proved  a  failure. 

Arts  and  Implements  of  the  Mound-Builders. — Among  the  articles  attesting  a 
mechanical  or  artistic  power,  found  side  by  side  with  tho  remains  in  the  sepulchral 
and  other  mounds,  are  well-wrought  needles  of  bone,  shuttles  of  the  same  material, 
disks  of  porphyry,  axes  and  knives  of  chert,  block-prints  for  clothing,  rope-makers' 
rc'ods,  suction-tubes  of  steatite,  elaborate  carvings  on  stone,  pottery,  often  of  elegant 
design,  articles  of  use  or  ornament  in  silver  and  native  copper,  mica,  shells  from  the 
(iidf  of  Mexico,  obsidian,  and  various  other  objects  of  utility  or  ornament.  It  is 
from  a  consideration  of  these  antiquities,  which  have  been  disclosed  by  tumuli  and 
the  plougii,  that  the  true  state  of  arts  and  fabrics  of  the  Mound-  and  Fort-Builders' 
epoch  must  l)e  inferred.  It  appears  to  have  embraced  a  trnnxition  period  between 
tlie  i)ure  hunter  and  the  agricultural  state,  and  to  have  felt  the  moving  impulses  of 
iiii  al)undant  and  reliable  means  of  subsistence  for  its  numerous  population,  some 
ilxed  power  of  govermnont,  and  the  expansive  influences  of  interior  commerce  so  far 
as  the  exchange  of  articles  in  kind  went. 

This  incipient  state  of  a  commercial  element,  and  the  first  steps  of  a  kind  of 
centralism  in  government  acknowledged  by  this  ancient  people,  are  shown  by  the 
remains  of  antique  mining  ruins,  such  as  those  on  liake  Superior,  where  the  supplies 
1)1"  native  copjuT  were  got;  also  in  the  area  of  Indiana,  where  there  appear  to  have 
been  some  attempts  at  metallurgy,  perhaps  post-Colinnbian  ;  and  by  the  antique  traces 
of  the  same  species  of  labor  existing  in  the  valley  of  the  Unica  or  White  River,  and 
that  of  tlie  Arkansas  River,  and  perhaps  by  the  recent  discoveries  of  antique  gold- 
iniiiiiig  in  (California.  Tiiese  attempts,  which  evince  industry  and  skill  beyond  the 
wants  of  the  mere  hunter  era,  are  proliably  of  one  epoch  and  admit  of  being  grouped 
together.  The  whole  of  the  Western  and  Northern  antiquities  of  the  highest  clits.s, 
einl)racing  every  monuiiu'nt  of  the  kind  north  of  Utah  and  the  country  north  of  the 
(tila,  to  which  the  Toltee  and  Aztec  civilization  probably  reached,  may  be  looked 
upon  by  the  antiquary  as  forming  the  second  type  of  American  antique  civilization. 
That  this  type  was  distinct  from  the  Toltecan  system,  which  led  to  imperialism 
and  idolatry,  is  probable.     It  clearly  included  various  and  conflicting  tribes,  whose 


i  i 


'fl 


Ml 


14 


112 


r//A'   /M>JAX  TRIBES  OF  Tilt!   UNll'KD  STATES. 


independent  spirit  und  loowcly-knit  bonds  of  union  without  the  true  principle  of 
confederacy  drove  it  to  an  opposite  system,  and  led  to  llnul  disunion,  tumult,  ami 
downfall. 

This  ancient  group  of  tribes,  who  have  left  their  nunains  in  the  Missipsippi 
Valley  and  appear  to  have  culminated  and  fallen  there  before  fresh  hordes  of  adven- 
turous hunters  and  warriors,  had  no  coin,  no  science  beyond  the  first  elements  of 
geometry,  numbers,  anil  nahind  astronomy,  und  necessarily  (from  this  want  of  coin) 
no  fiscal  system.  Yet  there  were  evidently  contributions  in  kind  to  enable  them  to 
work  together  on  the  public  defences  aiul  tumuli  which  remain. 

There  was  another  element  besides  their  tendency  to  monarchy  which  separated 
the  Toltecan  from  the  Utah  or  Northern  tyj)e  of  tribes.  It  wiw  the  strong  bias  to 
idolatry  which  led  theiu  to  found  their  monarchy  on  it,  while  the  Northern  tribes 
preferred  the  simpler  worship  of  their  gods  of  air,  without  temples  or  an  edifice  of  u 
local  character,  except  elevated  j)laces  for  olfering  incense  and  supplications.  When 
these  could  not  be  secured  by  the  selection  of  natural  eminences,  they  raised  urfi- 
ficial  heaps  of  earth.  The  West  has  hundreds  of  such  geological  or  drift  mounds. 
This  was  the  origin  of  the  tumuli.  The  minor  and  more  remote  tribes,  who  had 
fled  across  the  Alleghanies  probably  at  an  earlier  datt?,  in  the  attractive  pursuit  of 
the  deer  und  bear,  and  in  quest  of  that  wild  freedom  which  they  loved,  do  not,  when 
their  habits  and  traditions  and  character  are  closely  scrutinized,  ajtpear  to  have  been 
of  a  radically  difl'erent  stock  from  the  Mound-Muilders,  for  these  Algonkin  tribes 
worshipped  the  same  gods  of  the  winds  and  mountains.  Even  in  Massachusetts, 
where  there  is  not  an  artificial  mound,  nor  anything  which  can  be  dignified  with  the 
name  of  an  antique  fosse,  they  had,  according  to  John  Eliot,  the  apostolic  missionary 
of  1040,  their  "  Qiiiiu/k/u!  (vjc  noiu/anh,"  or  high  jdaees,  where  the  sagamores  and 
powwows  lit  their  fires  and  onered  incense. 

ANCIENT    AORICtTI.TtTRE. 


Being  destitute  of  metallic  implements,  the  thought  of  subduing  the  forest  never 
entered  the  Indian  mind,  and  field-agriculture  wius  equally  impossible  without  the 
horse  or  ox  and  the  plough,  none  of  which  were  known  to  the  American  aborigines. 
Tliey  cultivated,  therefore,  only  small  patches  of  alluvial  land  uikhi  the  margins 
of  rivers  and  lakes,  such  shreds  of  prairie  as  they  were  able  to  dig  over,  und  such 
bottom-lands  in  the  dry  regions  as  they  could  irrigate  by  means  of  canals.  A 
stick  or  a  bone  wa.s  the  usual  implement  for  breaking  the  soil.  Irrigation  was  ex- 
tensively practised  by  the  Village  Indians  (Pueblos)  of  New  Mexico.  Besides 
Indian  corn,  beans,  s(piashes,  and  tobacco  were  the  chief  products  of  their  agricul- 
tural labors. 

Some  curious  anficpic  garden-beds,  or  traces  of  ancient  field-hu.«!bandry,  appear 
to  denote  an  ancient  period  of  fixed  agriculture  in  the  prairie  regions  of  the  West. 
These  vestiges  of  a  state  of  industry  which  is  far  beyond  any  that  is  known  to  have 
existed  among  the  ancestors  of  the  present  Indian  trilx's  exist  chiefly,  so  far  ua  is 


ANTIQUITIES. 


113 


known,  in  tho  soutliwcHtcrn  parte  of  Michigiin  and  the  luljoining  (lintricte  of  Indiana. 
Tlioy  extend,  so  far  uh  olwervcd,  over  tiio  level  and  fertile  |)rairie  landn  for  about  one 
liimdrcd  and  fifty  miles,  ranging  from  ti.e  source  of  the  Wabanli  and  of  the  west 
lininch  of  the  Miami  of  tho  Lakes  to  the  valleys  of  the  St.  Joseph's,  the  Kalamazoo, 
and  the  Grand  lliver  of  Michigan.  The  Indians  represent  them  as  extending  from 
the  latter  point  up  the  peninsula  north  to  the  i  'cinity  of  Michilimuckinac.  They 
are  of  various  sizes,  covering  generally  from  twenty  to  one  hundred  acres.  Some 
of  them  are  reported  to  embrace  even  three  hundred  acres.  As  a  general  fact,  they 
exist  in  the  richest  soil,  as  it  is  found  in  the  prairies  and  burr-oak  plains.  In  the 
latter  ease  trees  of  the  largest  kind  are  scattered  over  them,  but  in  the  greater  number 
(if  instances  the  preservation  of  their  outlines  is  due  to  the  prairie  grass,  which  forms  a 
(•((nipact  sod  over  them  as  firm  and  lasting  as  if  they  were  impressed  in  rock:  indeed, 
it  is  believed,  by  those  who  have  examine«l  the  grass  which  has  prwerved  the  Western 
mounds  and  earth-works,  that  tho  compact  prairie  sod  which  covers  them  is  more 
permanent  in  its  qualities  than  even  the  firmest  sandstones  and  limestones  of  the 
West,  the  latter  of  which  are  known  to  crumble  and  waste  with  marked  rapidity 
under  the  combined  influence  of  rain,  frost,  and  other  atmospheric  jdienomena  of  the 
climate.  As  evidence  of  this,  it  is  asserted  that  the  numerous  mounds,  embankments, 
and  other  forms  of  Western  ttnti(piitii>s  are  as  iwrfcct  at  this  day,  where  they  have 
not  been  disturbed  by  the  plough  or  by  excavations,  as  they  were  on  the  earliest 
discovery  of  the  country. 

These  anti(pie  beds  offer  new  and  unique  traits  in  our  antiquities,  denoting  a 
ajwies  of  cultivation  in  primitive  times  of  an  unusual  kind,  but  which  has  Itecn  aban- 
doned for  centuries.  They  are  called  "garden-beds,"  in  common  parlance,  from  the 
(liliiciilty  of  assimilating  them  to  anything  else,  though  it  would  be  more  proper 
[u'rhaps  to  ccmsider  them  lus  the  vestiges  of  ai\eient  field-lalmr.  The  areas  are  too 
lai'i^e  t(»  admit  the  a.ssumption  of  their  being  required  for  the  purposes  of  ordinary 
hi)rti('iilture.  Plats  of  land  so  extensive  lus  some  of  these  were,  laid  out  for  mere 
^'aniens  or  pleasure-gnmnds,  would  presuppose  the  existence,  at  the  unknown  period 
of  their  cultivation,  of  buildings  and  satrapies  or  chieftaindonis  of  arbitrary  authority 
over  the  masses,  of  which  there  is  no  other  evidence.  The  other  antiquarian  proofs 
of  the  region  are,  indeed,  of  the  simplest  and  least  imposing  kind,  not  embracing 
large  mounds  or  the  remains  of  field  fortifications,  unless  we  are  to  ccmsider  these 
horticultural  labors  of  the  table-prairie  lands  as  having  existed  contemporaneously 
with,  and  as  appendant  settlements  of,  the  prinei|ial  ancient  defenced  towns  and 
strongholds  of  the  Ohio  Valley. 

Tiie  main  point  of  incpiiry  is,  by  whom  and  at  what  ])oriod  were  these  beds 

constructed  anil  tilled, — whether  by  the  ancestors  of  the  existing  race  of  Indians, 

by  tlieir  |)redecessors,  or  by  a  people  possessing  a  higher  degree  of  fixed  civilization? 

In  most  of  tho  other  antitiuarian  earth-works  or  remains  of  human  labors  of  the 

West,  we  observe  no  greater  degree  of  art  or  skill  than  may  be  attributed  to  hunter 

races,  who,  wiicii  infringed  upon  by  iieighboriiig  tribes,  conibine,  for  the  purpose  of 

(li'fince  against  hand-to-hand  missiles,  up<m  hill-tops  surrounded  with  earthen  walls 

I.-. 


W' 


l: 


114 


THE  IXDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


3 


and  palisades.  Kut  there  is  in  these  enigmatical  platd  of  variously  shaped  heds,  gen- 
erally consisting  of  rows,  eviderce  of  an  amount  of  fixed  industry  applied  to  agricul- 
ture which  is  entirely  opposed  to  the  theory  that  the  lahorei-s  were  nomads  or  hunters. 

The  area  of  country  marked  by  these  evidences  of  u  iiorticultural  population 
covers  the  tract  from  the  head-waters  of  the  Wabash  and  the  Miami  of  the  Lakes,  to 
flic  eastern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan.  Similar  beds  arc  said  to  extend  elsewhere. 
The  beds  are  of  various  sizes.  Nearly  all  the  lines  of  each  area  or  sub-area  of  beds 
arc  rectangular  and  parallel.  Others  admit  of  half-circles,  and  of  variously  curved 
beds  with  avenues,  and  are  differently  grcciped  and  (lisiK)sed.  The  mode  of  ibrma- 
tion  indicates  two  species  of  culture.  The  iirst  consists  of  convex  rows,  whose  arches 
spring  from  the  same  bases  in  opposite  directions.  In  the  other  the  bases  of  the 
convex  rows  are  separated  by  a  path  or  plain. 

Both  the  plain  and  the  convex  beds  are  uniformly  of  the  same  width.  If  the 
space  between  the  beds  is  to  be  viewed  as  a  j)ath  from  which  to  weed  or  cultivate 
the  convex  bed,  the  idea  is  opposed  by  the  comi)arativc  waste  of  land  denoted  by  a 
perfect  equality  of  width  in  the  beds  and  paths.  Besides,  there  are  no  such  paths  in 
the  larger  masses  of  rows,  wiiicli  are  wholly  convex,  but  are  bounded  by  avenues  or 
[)atlis  at  consideral)le  distances.  The  principal  species  of  culture  resembling  this 
arrangement  of  beds,  in  modern  horticulture,  is  that  of  beans,  potatoes,  and  rice ; 
that  of  celery  retpiires,  not  a  path  separating  the  ridges,  but  a  ditch.  Indian  corn 
may  have  been  cultivated  in  rows ;  but  the  former  mode,  like  the  j)resent,  so  far  as 
we  know,  was  in  hills.  These  anti(pie  corn-hills  were  usually  large,  generally 
attaining,  as  the  Irocpiois  informed  Mr.  Schoolcraft  in  1845,  three  or  four  times  the 
diameter  of  the  modern  hills,  a  si/e  which  resulted  from  tiie  want  of  a  jdcaigh.  In 
conse<pience  of  this  want,  the  same  hill  would  be  mellowed  by  the  scapula  or  sub- 
stitute for  a  hoe,  or  the  instruiiicnt  used  for  planting,  during  a  succession  of  years. 
Thus  the  corn-h'!!  would  become  large  and  distinct, — in  fact,  a  hillock.  This  is 
the  ex]tlanation  given  him  while  viewing  the  anci"nt  corn-fields  near  the  Oneida 
Stone,  which  are  now  overgrown  with  forest  trees. 

Thc-ic  ancient  garden-beds  of  the  West  may  have  derived  their  permanency  from 
this  same  want  of  agricultural  impiemenls  and  of  horses  and  cattle  to  phuigh  the 
land,  and  from  the  practice  of  reforming  and  rejtlanting  them  by  hand,  in  the  Indian 
manner,  year  after  year.  In  this  way  we  may  account  for  one  of  their  nio.sl  sur- 
prising traits,  namely,  their  capacity  to  resist  kith  the  action  of  the  elements  and  the 
<listurl)irig  force  of  the  power  of  vegetation. 

We  are  compelled  to  look  to  an  earlier  period  than  that  of  European  discovery 
for  the  origi'i  of  these  agricultural  vestiges.  It  is  prol)able  that  they  are  the  results 
of  early  cultivation  in  some  of  the  liadiiig  and  iiKtre  advance!  indigenous  raci-s  who 
possessed  the  midland  regio'is  between  the  Mississippi  and  tlie  Lakes.  It  was  a 
region  which  formerly  abounded  iii  game  of  various  sorts,  and,  while  a  part  of  tiie 
season  was  employed  in  hunting,  a  dense  population,  such  as  tlie  vestiges  denote, 
provided  breadstuds  by  tlie  culture  of  corn,  beans,  pulse,  and  the  various  esculent 
roots  which  are  known  to  llourish  in  these  latitu<les. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


116 


That  this  people  were  not  advanced  beyond  the  state  of  semi-agriculturists  ap- 
pears probable  from  the  absence  of  any  remains  of  architecture  or  temple-worship 
such  as  marked  the  Mexican  and  Peruvian  races,  for  beyond  the  occurrence  of 
mounds  of  the  minor  class,  or  small  tumuli,  there  are  no  evidences  of  their  attain- 
•.iient.s  as  constructors  or  builders.  The  garden-beds  form,  indeed,  the  most  promi- 
nent and  by  far  the  most  striking  and  characteristic  antiquarian  monuments  of  this 
district  of  country.  There  would  seem  to  have  been  some  connection  between  these 
hvxh  and  the  peculiar  class  of  low  imitative  mounds  in  the  form  of  animals  which 
mark  a  very  considerable  area  of  the  opposite  side  of  Lake  Michigan. 

Lake  Michigan,  is  indeed,  remarkable  for  its  protrusion  from  north  to  south  for 
its  entire  length  into  the  prairie  regions  of  Indiana  and  Illinois.  It  occupies,  in 
fact,  a  summit,  and  while  its  outlet  is  into  Lake  Huron  north,  and  thus  by  the  Lake 
cliain  and  the  St.  Lawrence  into  the  North  Atlantic,  the  Illinois  runs  south  from  its 
immediate  head  and  linds  the  ocean  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  ancient  garden- 
beds  and  the  animal-shaped  mounds,  the  latter  of  which  may  be  supposed  to  have 
Ix'i'u  erected  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  great  hunters  who  bore  the  names  of  the 
animals  imitjited,  occnp/  the  same  latitudes.  They  constitute  some  of  the  best  corn 
latitudes  of  Michigan  and  AV^isconsin.  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  waters  of 
liakc  Michigan  alone  Koparnte  these  two  classes  of  remains,  and  that  the  Northern 
tribes,  wIjo  are  bold  and  expert  canoe-men,  find  no  difliculty  in  crossing  from  shore 
to  shore  in  the  calm  summer  months. 

The  French  found  the  eastern  and  southern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  in  the 
possession  of  the  Jllinese,  some  of  whose  desc'..'ndants  still  survive  in  the  Peorias  and 
the  Iviuskaskias,  .southwest  of  the  Mississippi.  These  "lUinese"  tribes  were  of  the 
generic  ^■tock  of  the  Algonkins,  and  did  not  exceed  the  others  in  agric\iltural  skill. 
None  of  the  early  writers  speak  of  or  allude  to  the  species  of  cultivation  of  which 
tlie  horticultural  beds  under  consideration  are  the  vestiges.  The  Ottawas,  who  still 
inbabit  parts  of  the  country,  as  at  CJun  Lake,  Ottawa  Colony,  i>nd  other  places 
dependent  on  CJrand  River,  attribute  these  beds  to  a  people  whom  they  and  the  united 
('iii|ipewiw  call  the  Musheodainsug,  or  Little  Prairie  Indians.  Ihit  there  is  no  evir 
di  nee  that  this  people  j)ossessed  a  higher  degree  of  industry  than  themselves.  The 
Ottawsus  did  not  enter  Lake  Michigan  till  after  their  defeat  in  the  St.  Lawrenco 
Valley,  along  with  the  other  Algonkins,  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
Till'  trees  growing  on  the  beds  tbrougliout  Southern  Michigan  and  Indiana  denote 
clearly  that  at  that  period  the  cultivation  had  been  long  abandoned.  It  was  evidently 
(if  a  prior  period.  It  his  been  seen  that  it  could  not  have  l)een  of  European  origin, 
it'  we  conline  (mr  view  to  known  or  admitted  periods  of  history.  It  seems  ieasonal)le 
ti)  attribute  these  labors  to  races  of  Indians  of  an  early  period,  and  of  a  more 
advaneeil  grade  of  industry  and  numners,  wiio  were  yet,  however,  to  a  certain  extent 
Inniters.  Are  not  these  beds  contemporary  vestiges  of  the  epoch  of  the  Mound- 
Iluilders,  if  not  interior  positions  of  tiie  people  themselvi's,  who  have  so  plaee<l  their 
t'urtitied  cam|)s  or  liill-seateil  outposts  as  generally  to  defend  tiieir  agricultural  settle- 
iiunts  from  the  approaches  of  enemies  fnmi  llie  south? 


m 


\  ■■■I 


■iit- 


M 


116 


TlIK  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


The  charm  of  mystery  ia  so  great  that  men  are  apt  to  be  carried  away  by  it, 
and  to  seek  in  the  development  of  unknown  or  improbable  causes  an  explanation  of 
phenomena  which  is  often  to  be  found  in  j)lainer  and  more  obvious  considerations. 
That  this  charm  has  thrown  its  spell  to  some  extent  around  the  topic  of  our  Western 
antiquities  cannot  be  denied. 

Zca  Maize. — The  inliuence  of  the  cultivation  of  the  zea  maize  on  the  semi-civili- 
zation and  history  of  the  Indian  race  of  this  continent  has  been  very  striking.  It 
is  imjwssible  to  resist  this  conclusion  in  searching  into  the  causes  of  their  dispersion 
over  the  continent.  We  are  everywhere  met  with  the  fact  that  those  tribes  who 
cultivated  corn  and  lived  in  mild  and  temperate  latitudes  reached  a  state  of  society 
wiiich  was  denied  to  the  mere  hunters.  The  Indian  race  who  roamed  the  Mississippi 
Valley  at  the  era  of  the  llrst  planting  of  the  American  colonies  were  corn-growers 
to  but  a  limited  extent.  It  was  only  the  labor  of  females,  while  the  men  were 
comjjletely  hunters  and  periodical  nomads.  They  were,  it  is  true,  cultivators  of  the 
zea  maize,  so  far  as  has  been  shown,  and  also  of  the  tobacco-plant,  of  certain  vines, 
and  of  a  species  of  bean,  art^  which  existed  pari  passu  with  the  hunter  state,  and 
whicli  they  j)rofessed  to  have  known  from  the  remotest  times.  The  tribes  of  the 
("arolinas  and  Virginia,  extending  along  the  Atlantic  into  New  England,  raised 
huge  quantities  of  the  zea  maize,  and  they  all  relied  upon  it  as  one  of  their  fixed 
iiu'uiis  of  subsistence.  Most  of  the  tribes  have  invented  myths  to  denote  it  as  the 
gift  of  the  Deity  to  thoin,  and  as  designed  for  their  subsistence  when  game  should  fail. 
Tlie  traditions  of  evi'u  tlie  must  northerly  tribes  traced  this  grain  to  the  south. 
That  it  was  of  tropical  or  of  southwestern  origin,  that  it  extended  gradually  and  by 
an  ethnographical  impulse  into  tiie  temperate  and  northern  latitudes,  is  ailirmed  by 
early  observation,  and  is  a  result  which  the  phenomena  of  climate  a  priori  deter- 
mine. Indian  corn  will  not  mature  north  of  latitude  4G°  'MY  N.,  it  is  not  a  prolitable 
crop  north  of  44°  IJO'  N.,  ami  the  tribes  who  have  from  the  earliest  times  cultivatetl 
it  have  no  traditions  tliat  eitiier  tiiemselves  or  their  grain  had  a  northern  origin. 
The  fust  trilies,  indeed,  met  with  in  jiassing  north  from  the  continental  summit  of 
the  Mississippi,  are  the  non-curn-raising  tribes,  the  great  Atiiaba.sca  group.  These 
look  to  the  Arctic  latitudes,  or  the  northeast  coast.s  of  America,  by  the  Unjiga 
Pass  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  as  their  place  of  origii>.  Honu!  of  them  still  pre- 
serve the  tradition  of  their  ancestors'  having  landed,  amid  snow  and  ice,  on  the  bleak 
ami  frigid  shores  of  the  Arctic  Ocean. 


c()1'im;u-mi\i\(j. 

The  use  of  native  eo])))er  by  the  ancient  tribes  appears  to  have  bwn  extensive  in 
the  making  of  various  ornaments  and  implenu-nts.  It  Wiis  found  by  the  natives  in 
the  metallic  state  in  lumps  and  masses  of  various  forms  through  extensive  districts 
of  the  West  and  Northwest,  where  it  was  coiiecled  and  sul)jected  to  mechanical  labor 
by  the  tribes,  who  wrought  it  out  exclusively  with  liie  hanuner.  This  nu't^d  s(m»('- 
times  exhibits  itself  on  the  surface  in  tiie  form  of  regular  veins  in  formations  of 


ANTIQUITIES. 


117 


the  trap  rock,  llocont  discovi'rics  in  the  biisiu  of  Lake  Superior  denote  that  these 
veins  were  worked  by  niiners  in  ancient  times  in  their  natural  courses  with  more 
skill  and  energy  than  have  ever  been  exhibited  by  the  present  Indian  race.  Vestiges 
of  ancient  mines  have  been  discovered  in  this  basin  of  so  important  u  character  that 
modern  miners  have  paused  in  astonishment  ujion  beholding  them.  Tliey  indicate 
the  application  of  a  peculiar  system  of  labor  whicli  was  never  in  known  jieriods 
a  characteristic  of  savage  tribes,  and  in  wi\ich  at  the  best  they  could  have  been  em- 
ployed only  as  auxiliaries. 

True  it  is  that  *his  ancient  mode  of  mining  vvas  altogether  simple,  and  evinced  a 
bestowal  of  incipient  art  in  the  department,  such  as  ia  conformable  to  the  earliest 
suggestions  of  ingenuity  in  regard  to  tiie  sulyect.  After  the  external  masses  had 
been  removed,  the  metallic  leads  appear  to  have  been  worked  by  building  fires  upon 
or  against  the  walls  of  the  trap  rock.  After  this  calcining  process  had  been  con- 
tiiuied  to  the  desirei'  j)oint,  water  was  poured  on  the  heated  rock  to  render  it  friable. 
Mauls  of  hard  stone;  were  then  applied  to  beat  off  the  calcined  rock.  These  mauls 
are  abundantly  found  in  the  reopened  works.  They  are  generally  of  (piartz  rock, 
or  the  silicious  parts  of  granitic  or  Azoic  rocks.  Stone  and  copper  wedges  are  also 
foun<l.  When  a  deep  trench  or  gallery  had  been  opened,  which  required  a  ladder 
to  ascend  and  descend  it,  a  small  tree  or  sapling  was  denuded  of  the  outer  part  of  its 
limbs  to  answer  the  purpose  of  steps. 

The  opinion  is  general  that  these  labors  of  mining  are  of  a  very  ancient  date,  if 
not,  indeed,  the  result  of  the  occupation  of  the  continent  by  an  ancient  people  jirior 
to  the  al)origines.  If  so,  the  works  must  have  been  prosecuted  under  the  direction 
of  European  or  Asiatic  skill.  Labors  of  so  extensive  a  character  could  not  have 
been  carried  on  without  consitU'rable  gangs  of  hands,  to  support  whom  it  would  be 
essential  that  tliere  should  l)e  a  contemporaneous  agriculture.  No  evidences  of  this 
appear  to  exist  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  these  mining  vestiges.  lUit  there 
have  been  found  some  enigmatical  ancient  garden-  or  field-beds  in  the  fertile  prairie 
regions  of  Michigan  and  Illinois  which  have  excited  much  interest,  and  which  are 
evi<l('ntly  not  due  to  the  existing  Indian  tribes.  A  strong  proof  of  this  hypothesis 
may  Ix'  drawn  from  the  fact  respecting  these  antique  lal)ors  that  the  Indian  does  not 
acknowledge  them  and  hius  no  traditions  respecting  them.  Tlu'  entire  class  of  facts 
disclosed  is,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  state  of  remote  antiquities.  The  ancient  trenches 
and  galleries  have  been  filled  up  with  clay  and  soils  upon  which  there  is  a  new  forest 
gniwth.  The  tree-ladders,  levers,  and  stone  tools  employed  are  found  buried  beneath 
tiiis  formation.  The  very  nuuscs  of  rock  uststl  as  mauls  are  fouiul  in  tlu'se  anticpie 
galler'cs.  The  work  throughout  this  portion  of  the  country,  .so  j>roduetive  at  present 
ill  iPi'tallic  (Mtpper,  appears  to  have  lieen  sudileiily  dropped,  a.s  if  occasioned  by  some 
pol.tieal  change  or  revolution  in  Indian  history  by  which  more  barbanms  tribes  of 
nun  had  prevailed. 


\-' 


n 


! 
I"  ■ 


Ipl'i 


118 


THE  INDIA]^    TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  LAKE  ERIE. 

The  occupation  of  the  shores  and  islands  of  this  lake  by  the  ancient  and  extinct 
tribe  of  the  Eries,  who  were  once  the  acknowledged  pacificators  of  the  neighboring 
Indians,  and  who  preceded  the  Iroquois  in  warlike  and  civic  power  within  that  basin, 
gives  a  melancholy  interest  to  whatever,  in  the  existing  archteological  remains  of  the 
country,  serves  to  restore  the  memory  of  their  power. 

The  recent  discovery  of  ancient  earthworks  and  two  inscriptions  in  the  picto- 
graphic  character  on  Cunningham's  Island,  in  the  archipelago  of  islands  in  the 
western  part  of  this  lake,  gives  birth  to  the  idea  that  these  islands  were  one  of  the 
strongholds  of  that  tribe  when  attacked  by  the  Iroquois.  They  appear  to  have  been 
in  all  the  plenitude  of  their  power  and  barbaric  boast  of  strength  and  influence  at 
the  period  of  the  first  discoveries  of  the  French,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  The  Wyandots,  who  afterwards  were  known  to  have  exercised  a  controlling 
influence  on  the  contiguous  waters  of  Sandusky  Bay  and  the  Straits  of  Detroit,  had 
not  yet  been  disturbed  from  their  ancient  seats  in  the  Valley  of  the  St.  Ijawrence. 
Le  Jcuue,  who  published  the  first  account  of  the  Iroquois,  in  Paris,  in  1658,  men- 
tions the  angry  negotiations  carried  on  at  Hochelaga,  the  site  of  Montreal,  by  which 
the  Iroijuois  attempted  to  control  that  tril)e,  and  during  which  they  commanded 
them,  on  pain  of  their  direst  vengeance,  to  br6ak  their  league  with  the  French ; 
and  when  this  threat  was  put  into  execution  a  few  years  after,  the  Wyandots,  having 
been  defeated  in  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley,  fletl  west  through  the  country  of  the 
friendly  Algonkins  to  the  basin  of  Lake  Huron,  and  at  a  later  period  to  the  basin 
of  Lake  Erie,  where  the  canoes  of  the  vengeful  Iroquois  were  already  prowling  in 
their  adventurous  thiixt  for  military  renown. 

The  Erics  present  one  claim  to  remembrance  which  cannot  be  urged  by  any  other 
Americjin  tril)e,  namely,  as  the  ancient  kindlers  of  the  council-fire  of  peace  for  all 
the  tribes  prior  to  the  rise  and  destruction  of  this  institution,  and  before  the  origin 
of  the  Irocpiois  confederacy. 

There  can  be  no  (juestion,  from  the  early  accounts  of  the  French  missionaries, 
that  tiiey  were  at  the  head  of  that  singular  confederation  of  tril)es  called  the  Neutral 
Nation,  which  extended  from  the  extreme  West  to  the  eastern  shores  of  Lake  Erie, 
including  the  Niagara  Valley,  and  of  whom  the  Kaukwas,  of  Seneca  tradition,  were 
manifestly  only  one  of  the  powei-s. 

The  history  of  this  people,  their  rise,  their  s|)read,  and  their  final  fall,  is  involved 
in  a  degree  of  obscurity  which  is  the  more  stimulating  to  curiosity  from  the  few 
gleams  of  light  that  tradition  gives.  There  is  no  doubt  that  an  institution  which 
nuist  always  have  been  Hul)jeet  to  a  very  delicate  »'xercise  of  authority,  and  which  was 
often  fluctuating  in  its  pcjwer,  was  finally  overthr  iwn  for  some  indiscreet  act.  The 
power  to  light  this  pacific  fire  is  rej)resented  lus  having  been  held  by  female  hands 
before  its  final  extinction  in  the  area  of  Western  New  York.  It  is  etjually  eh'ar  that 
after  it  began  to  flicker  it  wjis  finally  put  out  in   blood  by  the  increiu>'ing  lro<jUois, 


w 


III  I  I II  I''  'I    III.!'  II 


I'll     .11  >||        1       ]■<:•■{<       Sl'lltll       .'l.i''      i..l'    '   'lllliltll  J^il.llll    .-      !S     I..1I 


li 


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tr 


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::^: 

-&■: 


.■••itj»r' 


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■n- 


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i 

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l*-l 


^?' 


ANTIQUITIES. 


110 


who  app<>iir  to  have  conquorcd  somc^  of  tlio  bandH  in  battle,  and  to  have  driven  otherH, 
or  the  remnants  of  othcrH,  away. 

Tiie  prcHCiit  Htate  of  our  traditions  on  this  subjcert  ia  interoHting,  and  adds  new 
niotiveH  to  rcHcarch.  Jt  is  afliriii<<l,  by  truditiouH  rtrently  received  from  the  (.'atawbaB, 
tliat  this  triix'  origiii.iicd  in  tiie  extreme  North,  in  the  area  of  the  Lakes,  whence  they 
were  vioh'iitly  expelled.  TIuh  Hupj)lie.s  a  hint  for  rtwearch  which,  it  niUHt  Ixi  con- 
feHsed,  is  thiw  far  without  fruits.  The  Catawba  langimge  has  no  reaemblance  to  the 
vocabulary  of  either  dialect  of  the  Ir(M|uoiH,  or  to  the  Algonkin;  while  it  differe  a8 
much  from  thone  of  all  the  Appalachian  tril)eH,  and  muHt  be  regarded  in  the  present 
state  of  our  knowledge  as  being  peculiar. 

While,  therefore,  the  sciireh  for  the  luHtory  of  this  tribe  in  the  Lake  btuiins  appears 
to  be  blocked  up,  the  fact  of  the  expulnion  or  extirpation  of  the  Eries  by  the  Irocpiois 
remains  well  atte^ited,  and  the  prolonged  war  kept  up  againnt  the  Catawbas  and  their 
confederatcH,  the  Cherokees,  by  that  confederacy,  favors  the  idea  of  an  ancient  and, 
a«  it  is  confesHed  to  have  been,  a  very  extraordinary  and  bloody  feud.  A.t  least  the 
announcement  of  the  fact  of  the  Catawba  tradition  throws  a  renewed  interest  around 
the  history  of  that  struggle  of  the  Eries  with  the  predominating  Iroquois  power,  and 
it  gives  a  new  impulse  to  inquiry  to  find  archicological  traces  like  those  disclosed  on 
Cunningham's  Island,  which  appear  to  attest  the  former  Eriean  power. 

Sculptund  liorh — Kric  Innrn'ptlnn. — In  addition  to  this  evidence  of  former 
occupancy  in  the  aboriginal  period  is  that  of  a  sculptured  rock  lying  on  the  south 
shore  of  Cunningham's  Island,  about  two  hundred  feet  from  the  west  angle  of  the 
enclosure.  This  rock  is  thirty-two  feet  in  its  greatest  length,  by  twenty-one  feet  in 
its  greatest  breadtli.  It  is  a  part  of  the  same  stratification  as  the  island,  from  which 
it  has  been  separated  by  lake  action.  The  top  presents  a  smooth  and  polished  sur- 
face, like  all  the  limestone  of  this  quarter  when  the  soil  is  removed,  suggesting  the 
idea  that  the  polish  is  due  to  glacial  attrition.  Upon  this  the  inscription  is  cut. 
This  cutting  is  pectdiar.  The  figures  and  devices  are  deeply  sunk  in  the  rock,  and 
yet  prej^ent  all  ita  smoothness  of  surface,  as  if  they  had  been  exposed  to  the  polishing 
or  wearing  influence  of  water.  Yet  this  influence,  if  from  water,  could  not  have 
been  rapid,  as  the  surface  of  the  rock  is  elevated  eleven  feet  above  the  water-level. 
Its  base  has  but  a  few  inches  of  water  around  it. 

Plates  2o  and  2(5  exhibit  perspective  views  of  the  relative  position  of  this  natural 
monument,  also  of  the  lake  it.self,  and  of  the  picturesque  beauty  of  the  adjacent  shores, 
This  is  by  far  the  most  extensive  and  the  best  sculptured  and  best  preserved  inscrip- 
tion of  the  anti(piarian  period  ever  found  in  America.  Being  on  an  islet  some  dis- 
tance from  the  shore,  with  precij)it4ms  sides,  it  remained  undiscovered  till  within  late 
years.  It  is  in  the  pictographic  character  of  the  nativiu  Its  leading  symlwls  are 
readily  interpreted.  The  human  figures,  the  jjipes,  the  smoking  groups,  the  presents, 
and  other  figures  denote  tribes,  negotiations,  crimes,  turmoils,  which  tell  a  story 
of  thrilling  interest,  in  which  the  white  man,  or  European,  plays  a  part.  There  arc 
many  subordinate  figures  which  require  study.  There  are  some  in  which  t!»e  effects 
of  atmospheric  and  lake  action  have  destroyeil  the  connection,  and  others  of  an 


^mm^ 


«  I 


I 


120 


T/IK  LVDIAN   TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


11   I 


anomiilouR  olmractor.  Tlio  wliolo  iiiHcription  ia  inanifcHtly  oiio  connoctcd  with  the 
occupation  of  the  huHin  of  tliis  laico  by  tlic  EricH,  of  the  corning  of  th«  WyandotH, 
of  tho  final  triumph  of  the  Iroquoiu,  and  of  the  flight  of  the  ()c>oplo  who  huvo  left 
their  name  on  tlie  laite. 

A  crescent-Mliaped  and  irrcguhir  earthwork  on  tho  Bouth  Hide  of  the  inhind  has 
tho  general  appearance  of  an  embankment  or  circumvallation  intended  to  encloHe 
and  defend  a  vilhige.  Tlie  gatCH  or  sally-portH,  which  were  probably  constructed  of 
wood,  occupy  tho  eiwt  side  and  tho  extreme  northwestern  angle.  The  embankment 
is  twelve  hundred  and  forty-six  feet  around  the  crt^seent-shaped  part,  and  about  four 
hundred  feet  on  the  rock  brink  of  the  island. 

A  second  enclosure,  marked  by  a  circumvallation,  is  situated  a  short  distance 
west  of  tlie  former,  fronting  like  it  on  the  rocky  and  precipitous  nuirgin  of  the  lake. 
This  front  line  is  six  hundred  and  fourteen  feet.  The  embankment,  which  is  without 
gate  or  sally-port,  is  twelve  hundred  and  forty-three  feet  around. 

Within  these  enclosures  were  found  stone  axes,  pipes,  jK-rforators,  Iwno  fish- 
hooks, fragments  of  pottery,  arrow-heads,  net-sinkers,  and  fragmentw  of  human 
bones.  The  arrow-heads  were  found  in  a  fissure  of  the  rock  in  large  (piantity,  and 
were  apparently  new.  With  them  was  found  the  largest  sjMJcies  of  axe,  figured, 
which  had  also  apparently  been  unused.  These  vestiges  of  art  correspond  entirely 
with  the  general  state  of  knowledge  and  wants  of  the  surrounding  aborigines. 

Five  small  mounds  on  the  southern  and  western  part  of  the  island  are  of  the 
kind  denominated  barrows.  On  a  bay  on  tho  north  shore  of  the  island  there  is  a 
brief  pictograi)hie  inscrij)tion  on  a  limestone  boulder  which  has  Ik'cu  reversed  by  tho 
action  of  tempests  on  that  shore. 


MUZZINAniKO.V    KOCK-WIMTINU    Oil    IIISTOUY. 


W(;  have  seen  the  application  of  i)icture-writing  among  the  trik's  from  its  first  or 
simple  drawings  in  the  inscription  of  totems  and  memorials  on  grave-jiosts,  through 
the  various  methods  adopted  to  convey  information  on  sheets  of  bark,  scarified  trees, 
and  other  substances,  and  through  the  institutions  and  songs  of  the  Meda  and  tho 
AVabeno  societies,  the  mysteries  of  the  Jeesuk'iwin,  the  business  of  hunting,  and  the 
incidents  of  war  and  affection.  It  remains  only  to  consider  their  use  in  an  historical 
point  of  view,  or  in  recording,  in  a  more  i)ermanent  form  than  cither  of  the  preceding 
instances,  such  transactions  in  the  aflairs  of  a  wandering  forest  life  as  a{)pear  to  them 
to  have  demanded  more  labored  attemjits  to  j)rcserve. 

The  term  kckcewin  is  applied  to  picture-writing  generally.  Another  syllable  (ho) 
is  thrown  into  the  centre  of  the  wortl  when  the  figures  are  more  particularly  designed 
to  convey  instruction.  TIh^  term  tlicn  is  Icrkmiowiii.  It  is  the  distinction  which  the 
native  vocabulary  appears  to  establisii  between  simple  representative  figures  and 
symbols.  The  term  muzziiidbikon  is  strictly  apj)lied  to  inscriptions  on  rocks,  or,  as 
the  word  literally  implies,  rock-writing. 

Of  ro(!k-writing,  or  nuizzinabikon,  tiiere  are  many  examples  in  North  America, 


If  1 


;i 

1 

I'fa 

Kr 

./'; 

i 

;■  >j 

\% 

J 

r'i 

» *S! 

i; 

.; 

m 


(■  Sliai  ■  iCia?^ 


mi 


[J 
1. 


*.••■■■•  »»fki 


,*#<pf^ 


ANilQUITIES. 


121 


l>nt  most  of  tlie  known  inscriptions  consist  of  single  or  at  most  but  few  figures.  An 
Indian  pictographic  rock  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Ohio,  near  Steubenville,  O., 
bears  a  marked  resemblance  to  that  at  Dighton,  Mass.  Allusion  has  been  made 
to  several  instances  of  this  kind,  which  are  generally  in  the  simple  representative 
character.  There  bae  been- noticed  a  striking  disposition  in  the  persons  inscribing 
th(se  figures  to  place  thtem  in  ponitions  on  tlte  rock  not  "tej&ily  nccessiblej^as  on  the 
perpendicular  face  of  a  cliff,  to  reach -which  soine  artificial  cohtrivanco  must  have 
been  neces.sary.  The  Object  clearly  was  to  produce  a 'feeling- of  Surprise^'ot  mystery. 
Tii'j  mottled  and'sha<h;d  appearance  on  tire  imposing  line  of  66a£*  ofi^Lake  ^ii^erior, 
ciilicd  the  Pictured  Kocks,  is  not  the  result  of  picture-writing.  No  artificial  writing 
of  any  kind  has  been  noticed  there.  The  term  ha'  been  introduced  into  po[Ailar  use 
to  donotc  a  geological  effect  analogous  to  that  for  vMch  in  mineralogy  the  Germaiis 
hiivc  the  ajjpropriate  terin  of  amjclaufenen  farben,  or  iridescent  colors.* 

Tliere  exists,  however,  an  inscription  at  a  point  west  of  this  precipitous  Jwrtion 
of  the  coast,  on  the  banks  of  the  Naraabin  or  Carp  River,  about  half  a  day's  march 
from  its  mouth.  A  copy  of  this  inscription  was  made  by  the  thief  Chingw^auk, 
drawn  on  birch  bark.  lie  a!s(»  explained  the  symbols  and  gave  the  following 
interpretation.  There  lived  on  that  stream,  as  he  states,  years  ago,  a  chief  of  the 
name  of  Myeengun,  or  the  Wolf  of  the  Mermaid  (or  rather,  as  the  language  has  it. 
Merman  totem),  who  was  skilled  in  the  Meda,  and  was  invested  by  thet)pinion  of 
his  people  witii  a  character  of  nmch  skill  and  secret  power.  He  practisM  the  arts 
and  ceremcmies  of  the  Meda,  and  made  chcekwondnm.  By  these  infednslie^ acquired 
infhu'iice  and  raised  a  war-party  which  crossed  Lake  Superior  in  fe»fib€8.-  Tlte  expe- 
dition was  not  barren  of  success  in  otiier  respects,  but  this  exploit  was  considered  as 
a  direct  evidence  of  the  influence  of  his  gods,  and  it  gave  him  so  much  credit  that 
\u'  det«'rmined  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  it  by  a  muzzinabikon.  He  made  t#o 
inscriptions,  one  on  the  south  and  the  otlu'r  on  the  north  shore  of  the  lake.  Both 
wi'ie  on  tiie  precipitous  faces  of  rocks.  Copies  of  them  are  presented  in  Plate  28. 
These  copies  were  made  with  the  point  of  a  knife  on  a  rol'  of  bark  of  firm  texture, 
and  exliibit  an  evidence  of  remarkable  ingenuity  and  dexterity  in' the  art.  They 
are  triinscribed  in  the  two  pictographs  marked  A  and  B. 

I'ifiure  1  (A)  represents  the  chief  Myeengun,  whose  family  totem  is  given  under 
the  form  of  his  lodge  (No.  2).  This  lodge  is  to  be  regarded  as  ancestral.  The 
totem  Nebanabee,  or  the  Merman,  No.  I{,  fills  it,  nnd  synilxilically  denotes  that  all 
it>  nienibeiw  bear  the  same  mark.  His  individual  name  is  given  by  Figure  No.  4, 
tlie  woir.  The  whole  of  the  rcmainiiig  eight  figures  are  syml)olical  representations 
of  the  various  spirits  or  gods  upon  whom  he  relii'd.  No.  5  is  the  Misshibezhieu, 
or  faltnlons  panther.  The  drawing  shows  a  human  head  crowned  with  horns,  the 
nsiial  symbol  of  power,  with  the  body  and  claws  of  a  panther  and  a  m.ine.  The 
name  of  the  panther,  Misshibezhieu,  is  a  great  lynx.     Tlu'  eross«'s  u])on  the  body 


W. 


:■■■■-  !  ' 

*,  '■■;' 


'  Tills  I. rill  iliiidtci  nil  circct  iiuTily,  liiit  conVi'ys  iti^  •■'I'u  of  tlu;  cau-c  or  iiiiiiimT  of  prmliniii'r  llu'  efli'ct 
wliirli  is  Ml  i^ranliii'iilly  lii'iKilnl  in  llii'  I'rriiiun. 

Itl 


122 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


denote  night,  and  are  supposed  to  indicate  the  time  proper  for  tho  exercise  of  the 
powers  it  conveys.  No.  G  is  a  representation  of  the  same  figure  without  a  mane  and 
without  crosses,  and  denotes  the  exercise  of  its  powers  by  dayliglit.  In  No.  7  he 
depicts  his  reliance  uj)on  Mong,  or  the  loon ;  in  No.  8  upon  Mukwah,  or  the  black 
bear ;  and  in  No.  U  on  Moaz,  or  the  moose.  Each  of  these  objects  is  emblematic  of 
some  proi)erty  or  qualification  desired  by  the  warrior.  The  loon,  whose  cry  fore- 
tells changes  of  the  weather,  denotes  forecast ;  the  bear,  strength  and  sagacity :  and 
the  moose,  wariness,  being  the  most  keen  of  hearing  and  wary  of  any  of  the  quad- 
ru[)eds.  In  No.  10  he  depicts  a  kind  of  fabulous  serpent  resembling  a  saurian, 
having  two  feet,  and  armed  with  horns.  Both  of  these  appendages  are  believed  to 
be  symbolic  of  the  ser{)ent's  swiftness  and  power  over  life.  It  is  called  Misshikinabik, 
or  Great  Serpent.  In  No.  11  there  is  shown  a  reptile  of  analogous  powers,  but  it 
has  a  body  mounted  on  four  legs,  and  is  therefore  more  clearly  of  the  lizard  or 
saurian  type.     The  name  is,  however,  the  same. 

Thus  far  are  detailed  the  means  and  power  upon  which  the  chief  relied,  and  these 
were  (symbolically)  inscribed  in  the  region  of  his  residence,  on  the  southern  shores 
of  the  lake.  The  results  of  the  expedition  are  given  in  pictograph  B,  Plate  28, 
which  Wiis  painted  on  the  face  of  a  rock  at  Wazhenauhikinignning  Augawong,  or  the 
Place  of  the  Writing,  or  Inscription  Kock,  on  tlu;  north  shores  of  Lake  Superior, 
Canada.  It  is  near  a  bay  between  this  point  and  Namabin  Itiver  that  the  lake  was 
crossed.  The  passage  was  made  in  five  canoes  of  various  sizes  and  containing  in 
all  lifty-nne  men.  Of  these,  sixteen  men  were  in  No.  1,  nine  in  No.  2,  ten  in  No.  3, 
eight  in  No.  4,  and  eight  in  No.  o.  The  first  canoe  wiis  led  by  Kishkemunasee,  or 
the  Kingfisher  (No.  (5),  who  WJis  the  chief's  principal  auxiliary.  The  crossing  occu- 
pied three  days,  as  shown  l)y  the  figure  of  three  suns,  under  a  sky  and  a  rainbow, 
jn  No.  7.  In  Xos.  8,  !>,  and  10  he  introduces  three  objects  of  reliance  not  j)reviously 
brought  forward.  No.  8  is  the  Mikenok,  or  land-tortoise,  an  important  synd)ol, 
which  appears  to  imply  the  chief  point  of  triumph, — that  is,  reaching  land.  No.  i) 
is  the  horse,  and  reveals  the  date  of  this  adventure  as  being  subsequent  to  the  settle- 
ment of  Canada,  The  Meila  is  depicted  on  the  horse's  back,  crowned  with  feathers, 
and  holding  up  his  drum-stick,  such  as  is  used  in  the  mystic  incantations.  No.  10 
is  the  Migazee,  or  eagle,  the  prime  symbol  of  courage.  In  No.  11  the  chief  records, 
the  aid  he  received  from  tin-  fabulous  night-jtanther, — tiiis  jtanther,  by  the  way,  is 
generally  located  in  the  rlouds, — and  in  No.  12  a  like  service  is  recorded  to  the 
credit  of  the  Great  Serpent. 


AXanNT   BUILDING. 


Floi'idSitii  TcncnlUs,  or  I'lnlfonn-Jia^idviicvH  of  tlir  Native  Jiulcrx  and  Pritit/s. — 
(larcila-^so  de  la  Vega  infortiis  us  that  the  dwelling-houses  of  the  cacirpies  or  chiefs 
of  Kl')rida  in  l."»l(),  during  I)c  Soto".-;  march  through  the  present  area  of  Florida, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi,  were  generally  erected  on  large  arlilicial  mounds, 
or  a  species  of  teocalli.     These  artilicial  platforms  were  sometimes  eightein  hundred 


10 


IS 


-tfs;^— 


V    < 


m 


I 


ANTIQUITIES. 


123 


feet  in  circumference  at  the  base,  and  from  twenty  to  fifty  feet  high.  They  were 
capable  of  furnishing  space  for  the  houses  of  the  chief  and  his  family  and  their 
attendants.  The  sides  were  steep,  and  ascended  by  steps  cut  in  the  earth  and  cased 
with  wood.  This  structure  for  the  micco,  or  chief,  is  stated  to  have  constituted  the 
centre  of  every  newly-laid-out  village  or  town.  Around  it  was  drawn  a  large  square, 
where  the  principal  and  subordinate  persons  and  commonalty  had  their  residences. 
It  was  the  first  object  erected  on  the  selection  of  a  town-site ;  the  earth  was  brought 
to  the  spot.  The  chief  and  his  priest,  who  were  often  one  in  their  functions,  were 
thus  placed  in  a  position  not  only  of  greater  security,  but  one  from  which  they  could 
overlook  the  whole  town. 

It  is  perceived  from  Mr.  Pickett's  History  of  Alabama  that  remains  of  such 
structures  are  found  in  many  places  in  the  extensive  area  of  the  United  States  denoted 
by  De  la  Vega.  They  are  clearly  distinguished  from  the  mass  of  remains  called  in- 
discriminately tumuli  and  mounds,  by  being  flat  at  top,  sometimes  square,  and  as- 
suming the  character  of  precipitous  raised  plains  or  platforms,  while  the  tumuli 
proper  are  conical,  often  acutely  so,  and  carried  up  sometimes  to  the  height  of  ninety 
feet.  When  they  are  not  terminated  in  a  cone,  the  horizontal  area  is  small,  and 
appears  by  its  reduced  size  to  have  been  rather  suited  to  the  temple-wigwam  than  the 
niici'o's  residence. 

These  remarks  seem  to  be  deserving  of  attention.  At  an  age  of  our  Indian 
population  when  every  few  hundred  men  constituted  a  separate  natirn,  who  lived  in 
constant  hostility,  such  platforms  of  elevated  earth  afforded  vantage-ground  not  only 
for  residence  but  for  a  battle,  and  it  was  quite  natural  that  afterwards,  when  they  com- 
bined into  confederacies,  as  the  large  Muscogee  stock  is  known  to  have  done,  the 
use  of  these  select  places  for  the  rulers  should  have  been  forgotten  in  the  lapse 
of  centuries,  or  concealed  from  the  curiosity  of  inquirers. 

The  observation  of  these  ancient  plateaus  throws  light  on  this  class  of  our  antiqui- 
ties. It  is  not  only  the  earliest  light  we  have  on  the  subject  north  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  but  it  reveals  one  of  the  purposes  of  these  antique  tumuli  which  are  scattered 
so  profusely  over  portions  of  the  ancient  area  of  the  western  and  souil^ern  parts  of 
llio  United  States. 

The  Muscogees,  under  several  cognate  names,  trace  their  origin  to  the  Mexican 
empire,  and  these  plateaus  appear  to  have  had  their  j)rot()typc  in  the  more  imjwsing 
Mexican  teocallis ;  and  thus  we  may  perceive  that  the  United  States,  and  indeed  all 
Xnrth  AnuTloa,  was  overspread  in  its  native  pDpulation  l)y  religious  rites  and  notions, 
wliicli  :  ^■t'anie,  indeed,  fainter  and  fainter  as  they  spread  northward  and  escaped  from 
a  spi'cies  of  sacerdotal  tyranny,  but  were  yet  of  the  same  general  character. 

It  is  something  in  all  archieological  investigation  to  reach  a  jKriod  where  wonder 
and  speculation  end  and  reality  begins.  It  is  perceived  that  in  the  extension  of  these 
artiiitial  iieaps  of  honored  earth  from  tlie  (Jnlf  northward,  they  became  teocallis  or 
|ilatturni  pyramids  (if  les*s  area  and  greater  acuteness,  but  they  were  in  all  instance's 
of  tins  kind  trnncated,  or  had  a  level  area  at  their  tops.  We  allude  here  exclusively 
tu  the  "tumuli   prti|H'r,"  and  not  to  the  "redoubt  mounds"  or  "the  barrows,"  (u-  to 


I 


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124 


riJE  INDIAN   riilBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


small  "  altars  of  sacrilico."  Yet  this  suiuinit  plateau  was  fully  developed  in  the  chief 
mounds  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  its  tributaries,  as  at  Cahokia,  in  Illinois,  which 
has  a  base  of  six  hundred  ami  sixty-six  feet,  and  at  Grave  Creek  Flats,  Mianiisburg, 
and  other  noteil  points  of  central  anti(jue  native  ])owcr  in  the  West,  at  all  of  which 
places  the  i)riest  had  room  amply  suflicient  for  his  residence  and  ollicial  functions  on 
the  summit. 

Cam  Grande. — Father  Tedro  Font,  a  Spanish  friar,  who  visited  the  Qusa  Grande 
in  177-J,  thus  describes  it:  "The  Ciusa  Grande,  or  Palace  of  Montezuma,  may  have, 
according  to  the  accounts  and  scant  information  there  are  of  it  which  the  Indians  give, 
iin  anti(iuity  of  five  luuidred  years,  for  it  appears  that  its  foundation  was  laid  by  tiie 
Mexicans,  wiien  in  their  transmigration  the  devil  took  them  through  many  lands, 
until  arriving  at  the  promised  country  of  Mexico,  where,  in  their  extensive  settle- 
ments, they  raised  edilices  and  })lanted  a  population.  The  place  on  which  the  lumse 
stands  is  level,  separated  from  the  river  tJila  to  the  distance  of  a  league,  the  remains 
of  the  houses  which  formed  the  town  extemling  more  than  a  league  to  the  eastward 
anil  to  the  other  points.  All  this  ground  is  strewn  with  ])ieces  of  pots,  jars,  plates, 
efc,  some  coarse,  and  otliers  colored  of  a  variety  of  tints,  white,  blue,  red,  etc.,  a  sign 
that  it  was  once  thickly  inhabited,  and  by  a  people  distinct  from  the  Pimas  of  the 
Gila,  as  these  know  not  how  to  make  like  ware. 

"  The  house  is  square,  and  sets  exactly  to  the  four  cardinal  points.  About  it  are 
some  ruins  indicating  a  i'ence  or  wall  which  enclosed  the  house  and  other  buildings, 
remarkable  at  the  corners,  where  there  appears  to  have  been  a  structure  like  an 
interior  castle  or  watch-tower,  for  at  the  corner  which  stands  to  the  .southwest  there 
is  a  piece  up,  with  its  divisions  and  one  story.  The  exterior  wall  of  the  house  is  four 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  from  north  to  south,  and  two  hundred  and  sixty  feet  from 
t  st  to  west.  The  interior  is  composed  of  live  halls,  three  in  the  middle  of  e<|ual 
size,  and  one  at  each  extreme  of  greater  length.  The  three  are  twenty-six  feet  from 
north  to  south,  and  from  east  to  west  ten  feet.  The  two  at  the  ends  are  twelve  feet 
from  north  to  south,  and  thirty-eight  from  east  to  west.  In  height  they  are  eleven 
feet,  anil  in  this  arc  efpial.  The  doors  of  comimmieation  are  five  feet  high  and  two 
feet  wide,  are  nearly  all  of  the  same  size,  excepting  the  four  first,  being  the  four  outer, 
which  appear  to  be  as  wide  again.  Tiie  thickness  of  the  walls  is  four  feet;  they  are 
well  enclosed  ;  those  of  the  exterior  are  six  feet.  The  house  had  a  measurement  on 
the  outside  iVoin  north  to  south  of  seventy  feet,  and  from  east  to  west  of  fifty.  Tlie 
walls  are  scarped  from  without.  Before  the  door  on  the  east  side  there  is,  apart  fnun 
the  house,  another  room,  which  is  from  north  to  south  twenty-six  feel,  and  from  east 
to  west  eighteen  feet,  exclusive  of  tiie  ihiekuess  of  the  walls.  The  wood-work  was 
of  pine,  from  what  could  be  -ecn,  um<1  the  nearest  lidge  of  jiines  is  some  t\venty-fi\e 
leagues  distant,  which  has  also  .««inie  mesijuile.  The  entire  structure  is  of  earth,  and 
according  to  appearan<-«s  iIk;  tapia  was  made  in  iiloeks  of  dilVen  iit  sizes.  A  very 
large  canal  leads  up  a  goi»«l  'listance  from  the  river,  from  which  the  population  wire 
supplied,  and  whicli  i.s  now  much  llllid  up.  It  is  eviilcnt,  liowiver,  tlial  (lie  edilin' 
ha-<  haii  Three  storii-s,  aiel  ir  that  be  true  which  could  be  gleaned  from  the  Indian.s,  and 


ANTIQUITIES. 


125 


from  the  marks  which  were  to  he  seen,  tliere  had  been  four,  the  lower  floor  of  the 
house  having  been  below,  like  that  of  a  cellar.  To  give  light  to  the  rooms  there  are 
only  fo  be  seen  the  doors  and  some  round  holes  in  the  middle  of  the  walls  which  look 
to  the  eiust  and  west,  and  the  Indians  said  that  through  these  holes,  which  are  some- 
what large,  the  j)rince,  whom  they  called  the  JJitter  Man,  looked  out  to  salute  the 
sun  when  it  rose  and  set.  No  a|)[)earance3  of  stairs  were  found,  from  which  we 
judged  that  they  had  been  consumed  by  the  fire  which  had  been  set  to  the  building 
by  the  Apaches. 

"  Tlu!  windows  are  square  and  very  true,  are  without  hinges  or  bolts  {sin  qulclos 
III  (itnivcmdoa),  were  Tuade  with  a  mould  and  arch,  the  same  as  the  doors,  although 
narrow,  and  in  this  i>articular  might  be  recognized  to  be  the  work  of  Indians.  It  is 
tliirty-six  ])aces  in  length  and  twenty-one  in  width,  of  good  symmetry,  as  the  fol- 
lowing design,  with  the  gnuind-plan,  will  show. 


H 


•m 


1-t 


I 


"  At  the  distance  of  the  shot  of  an  anjuebuse  twelve  other  houses  are  to  be  seen, 
also  half  fallen,  having  thick  Widis,  and  all  the  ceilings  burnt,  except  in  the  htwer 
room  of  one  house,  which  is  oi' round  timbers,  sm(»oth  and  not  thick,  which  !i|)pt'ared 
to  he  of  cedar  or  savin,  and  ovit  them  sticks  [otulcs)  of  very  e(|iKil  size,  and  a  cake 
of  mortar  and  hard  clay,  making  a  roof  or  ceiling  of  great  ingennity.  In  the  environs 
arc  to  be  seen  many  other  ruins  and  heaps  of  broken  earth,  which  circumscribe  it  two 
l(';igncs,  with  much  broki'n  earthenware  of  plates  and  pots  of  line  clay,  piiintcd  of 
iriMny  colors,  and  which  rescnd)le  the  jars  of  (Juadalajara  in  New  Spain.  It  may  be 
inferred  that  the  population  or  city  of  this  body  politic  was  very  large;  and  that  it 
was  one  of  government  is  shown  by  a  main  canal  which  comes  from  the  rivr  by  the 
plain,  running  around  for  the  distance  of  three  leagues,  and  enclosing  the  inhabitants 
in  its  area,  being  in  breadth  ten  varas,  and  about  four  in  depth,  throngh  which  pcr- 
ha|)s  was  directed  one-half  the  \olnme  of  the  river,  in  such  a  manner  that  it  might 
serve  for  a  defensive  moat  as  well  as  to  sn|iply  the  wards  willi  watei'  and  irrigate  the 
plantations  in  thi'  adjacencies.      The   guides   said    that  at   the  distance  of  a  day's 


1} 


m 


■1^:^ 


12() 


THE  INDIAN  riilBES   OF   TUE   UNITED  STATES. 


journey  there  were  a  variety  of  other  edificea  of  the  same  construction  towards  the 
north,  on  tiie  opj)osite  t<ide  of  tlie  river,  on  another  stream  which  flows  to  unite  with 
this,  and  wliich  tiiey  call  Verde,  built  by  a  peo])le  who  came  from  the  region  of  the 
north,  the  chief  of  wiiom  was  called  the  Hiba,  which  name,  according  to  its  definition 
in  their  language,  is  the  Bitter  man,  or  the  Cruel ;  and  that  because  of  the  sanguinary 
wars  he  held  against  the  Apaches,  and  twenty  other  nations  confederated  with  them. 
Many  being  killed  on  both  sides,  the  country  was  abandoned  ;  a  portion  of  the  inhab- 
itants, dissatisfied,  separated  and  returniHl  to  the  north,  whence  they  had  come  years 
before,  and  the  rest  went  to  the  east  and  south.  From  this  information  we  judge — 
and  it  is  probable — that  they  are  the  ancestry  of  the  Mexican  nation,  which  is  accord- 
ing to  their  structures  and  vestiges,  and  are  like  those  that  are  spoken  of  as  existing 
in  the  U4th  degree  of  latitude,  and  in  the  environs  of  the  fort  of  Janos,  in  29  degrees, 
which  are  also  called  Casas  (Jrandes,  and  many  others,  of  which  we  have  notices,  to 
be  seen  as  far  up  as  the  ;57tli  and  -lOtli  degrees  north.  On  the  margin  of  the  river, 
distant  one  league  from  the  Casas  Grantles,  we  found  a  town  in  which  we  counted 
loOsouls.  .  .  . 

"  Having  heard  mass  on  the  lUtli,  we  continued  towards  the  west,  over  sterile 
])lains.  On  all  the  grounds  alxnit  tlicse  buildings  there  is  not  a  single  j)asture,  but 
they  appear  as  if  they  had  been  stri'wn  with  salt.  Having  traversed  four  leagues, 
we  arrived  at  a  town,  Tusoniiiion,  wliich  is  so  named  from  a  great  heap  of  horns, 
f'ntni  the  wild  or  sylvan  sheep,  wliich  appears  like  a  hill,  and,  from  the  numbers  that 
tlicrc  arc  of  the  animals,  they  make  the  common  subsistence  of  the  inhabitants. 
From  wiiat  can  be  seen  IVoiu  the  highest  of  those  houses,  there  appears  to  be  a 
country  of  more  than  a  luiii(lreii  tliousand  luusfas'  in  extent. 

"The  hcatlicn  Iiidiiins  received  us  with  jubilee,  giving  of  their  provision  to  the 
soldiers,  and  we  coiiiitcd  two  liiiiidicd  persons,  who  were  gentle  and  affable.  Kemain- 
iiig  there  to  slee|),  tiie  l-'atlicr  and  I  instructed  them,  through  the  interpreters,  in  the 
mysteries  of  our  Holy  Faith,  on  which  they  besought  us  that  there  might  be  baptized 
fifteen  of  their  children  and  seven  sick  adults." 

I'oininc'ATioNS. 

Of  the  priiici|)l('s  of  natural  fortification,  by  occupying  hills  and  defiles,  the  an- 
cestors of  tiic  pi'csciit  I'ace  of  Indians  availed  themselve-  often  in  a  most  aihnirable 
manner.  Their  works  were  accurately  suited  to  the  enemy  they  had  to  encount«T, 
and  the  luculitics  where  they  were  likely  to  meet  in  conflict.  They  surrounded  a 
cMiiip  or  village  with  a  ditch  and  palisade.  They  occupied  a  tlefilc  in  whiih  a  ft w 
coiild  resist  many.  Tiiey  threw  up  hiiu'ttes  on  a  commanding  cinineiice.  Tlu-y  ex- 
cavatetl  orifices  in  the  earth  to  shield  theiiiselvcs  from  arrows.  They  nuide  the  en- 
trances to  the  gate  of  a  fort  intricate  for  the  enemy  to  penetrate.  They  sometimi'S 
constructed  a  hay-cock  mound  or  rampart  before  it.     They  even  occupied,  with  lines 


'  Till'  iiiraMiri'  i'f  a  laiici',  aluiul  llin  r  ^ard.s  in  IriiL'lli.  — TllANS. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


127 


ami  works,  the  entire  summit  of  a  narrow  abrupt  hill,  nuiking  a  tahis,  Huch  as  that 
whicli  Dr.  Locke  lias  describctl,  in  18158,  as  existing  in  Aihims  County,  Ohio.  Their 
works  were  all  intended  for  defenee  against  the  simple  missiles  of  the  hunter  state. 

Prior  to  the  confederation  of  the  cantons  of  the  Irocjuois,  those  tribes  erected 
forts  to  defend  themselves  against  one  another.  The  Muscoculgees  and  Choctaws  prac- 
tised this  art  of  defence  during  the  early  expeditions  of  the  Spaniards  in  Florida. 
The  Wyandots  were  found  to  have  a  notable  work  at  llochelaga,  on  the  first  visit  of 
Cartier,  and  the  Tuscarorius  might  have  sucicessfully  defended  themselves  in  1712  on 
tiie  Neuse,  in  North  Carolina,  had  not  the  colonists  brought  cannon.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  Indian  arts  soon  fell  into  disuse  after  the  introduction  of  the  higher 
order  of  European  arts.  Bartram,  on  entering  Georgia  and  Florida  in  1773,  found 
tiie  remains  of  earthen  structures  on  the  sources  of  the  Altamaha,  which,  from  their 
plan  and  outline,  he  pronounced  to  be  of  a  former  race,  but  after  he  became  familiar 
with  the  Muscogees  he  found  the  same  arts  and  plans  still  in  use.  He  mentions  a 
peculiar  species  of  earthworks  which  were  creeled  by  the  existing  race  sus  mounds  of 
refuge  from  the  effects  of  floods.  It  appears  that  the  rivers  which  pour  from  the 
Ap|)alachian  range  south  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  rise  with  such  rapidity  as  often  to 
endanger  villages  on  the  bottom-lands.  Artificial  mounds  are  erected  on  these  bottoms 
for  escape,  having  a  raised  way  to  connect  them  with  the  high  grounds.  Colonel 
Hawkins,  in  his  sketch  of  the  Creek  country  in  17!*8,  mentions  similar  mounds  of 
escape  on  the  banks  of  the  leading  rivers.  These  observerc  disclose  a  fact  believed 
to  be  of  some  importance  in  estimating  the  age  of  antiipiities.  It  is  this:  that  ves- 
tiges and  remains  of  ancient  towns  and  villages  are  on  the  lowest  grounds,  being  the 
first  positions  selected.  In  these  j)laces  the  natives  resided  till  the  suddenness  of  the 
rise  of  the  rivers  taught  them  their  insecurity. 

l)e  Soto,  on  reaching  "Talise,"  in  lo4(),  found  it  to  be  "fortified  with  ramparts 
of  eartii  and  strong  palisades."  The  same  degree  of  art,  but  exhibited  more  elab- 
orately, wils  found  in  tlie  defences  of  the  larger  town  of  Mauvila.  "  This  fortress 
stood  in  a  fine  plain,  and  was  surnainded  by  a  high  wall  formed  of  huge  trunks  of 
trees  driven  into  the  ground  side  by  side  and  wedged  together.  These  were  crossed 
within  and  without  by  smaller  and  longer  pieces,  bound  to  tlieni  by  bands  made  of 
split  reeds  and  wild  vines.  The  whole  was  thickly  plastered  over  with  a  kind  of 
mortar  made  of  clay  and  straw  tramped  together,  which  filled  up  every  chink  and 
crevice  of  the  wood-work,  so  that  it  appeared  as  if  smoothed  with  a  trowel.  Through- 
out its  whole  circuit  the  wall  was  pierced  at  the  height  of  a  man  with  loop-holes, 
whence  arrows  might  be  discharged  at  an  enemy,  and  at  every  fifty  paces  it  was  sur- 
nn.'iiiited  by  a  tower  capaiile  of  holding  seven  or  eight  fighting  men."  This  was  the 
highest  stat*'  of  the  building  art  l)e  Soto  met  with  in  Florida.  Chiea/a,  the  Indian 
village,  though  finely  located  on  an  eminence,  was  fiaind  to  be  built  of  "  reeds  and 
straw."  On  reaching  the  Yazoo,  I)e  Soto  came  in  sight  of  an  Indian  fortress  called 
Alil)amo.  it  was  "  laiilt  in  the  form  of  a  (piadrangle,  of  strong  palisades.  The  four 
sides  wen^  each  four  hundred  paces  in  length.  Within,  the  tort  was  traversed  from 
side  to  side  by  two  other  palisadt's,  dividing  it  into  separate  parts.     In  the  caiter  wall 


ii 


li 


m 

ti'l 

il 

if 

V  i 

?;■  i. 

'(■"  1 

■ 

l\ 


'm: 


^^wm 


128 


TUK  LXDIAN  TIlIJiKS  OF   WE   UNITED  STATES. 


wore  three  portals  ho  low  and  narrow  that  a  man  oonld  not  enter  them  mounted  on  a 
horse."  Thus  tiir  J)e  ISoto  in  his  inarch  across  Florida  had  fonnd  no  Indians  making 
a  stand  tor  defence  at  a  mound.  On  reachiuf?  the  villaj^e  ot'C'iiisea,  on  the  hanks  of 
the  ^lississipjii,  he  found  the  dwelling  of  the  chief  and  his  family  seated  on  "a  high 
artiilcfial  mound,"  ascended  hy  two  ladders  or  ca.sed  steps.  Hut  it  was  evidently  not 
regardetl  hy  the  Indians  as  a  "  fortress,"  for  not  only  did  they  not  assembhi  there  to 
light,  but  the  enraged  chief,  on  seizing  his  arms  to  join  the  fray,  attempted  immedi- 
ately to  descend  to  the  j)lain  to  engage  in  the  iigiit,  and  on  the  conclusion  of  a  verbal 
treaty  the  Imlian  ruler  stipidated  that  the  Spaniards  should  not  imccnd  his  honored, 
and  perhaps  sacred,  platform-mound.  Here  seemed  the  sentiment  of  sacred nes.s 
attached  to  the  priest's  residence  on  a  Mexican  leocalli, 

ANCIKNT   INDIAN   AUT. 


These  details  of  a  portion  of  the  proofs  of  the  ante-Columbian  occujiancy  of 
America,  and  of  tiie  track  of  Indian  migrations,  properly  jirecede  the  consideration 
of  its  Indian  anticiuities,  and  leave  us  free  to  investigate  tiie  state  of  hidian  art  as  it 
e.xisted  at  and  prior  to  tii«'  epocii  of  the  discovery.  It  is  essential  clearly  to  establish 
tiiis  state  of  art,  an<l  to  keej)  it  constantly  in  view  during  the  great  and  violent 
changes  wrought  in  the  whole  franu!  of  Indian  society,  arts,  and  institutions  at  sepa- 
rate periods  by  the  introduction  of  European  knowledge,  arts,  and  fabrics.  It  may 
be  asserted  that  whatever  the  arts  of  the  alnirigines  were,  at  the  various  latitudes  in 
which  the  civilization  of  Kumpe  came  into  contact  or  conllict  with  them,  these  latter 
arts  were  sure  to  decline  before  the  superior  European  skill  and  knowledge.  For  if  an 
Alsfdnl 


km  (ir  ai 


1  InMpidis  on  the  Atlantic  coast  could  in  1">(M>  manufacture  a  very  good 
eartlieii  pot  or  a  splendid  bow  and  arrow,  be  would  not  many  years  continue  to  cul- 
tivate these  arts  when  lie  could,  by  the  exchange  of  a  few  skins,  obtain  in  j)lace  of  the 
one  a  light  brass  kettle,  and  for  the  other  a  gun.  Nor  W(add  he  htng  continue  to 
clothe  himself  with  lynx,  black-fox,  and  beaver  skins,  when  for  a  tithe  of  their  worth 
he  coulil  procure  the  woollen  blankets  and  cloths  of  JOngland,  Fraiu-e,  and  Holland. 
He  niig 
of  vore,  but  it 


lit  prefer,  indeed,  to  carve  and  engrave  his  pij)e  from  fictile  stones,  us  he  did 
inevitable  that  the  state  of  native  art  should  decline.     We  must 


admit  that  the  ancient  Indian  was  a  better  artist  than  the  modern.     This  is  a  funda- 
mental truth  in  our  arclueology. 

When  the  Spanish  discovered  America,  Europe  was  shaken  to  it.s  centre  by  re- 
tations.     For  the  Keformatioii  was  then  on  the  point  of  breaking  forth, 


lijjious  a<;i 


UK 


1  in  a  few  years  was  at  its  height.     Luther  commenced  his  open  career  just  t 


wo 


years  before  ("ortez  first  apjicareil  before  the  city  of  Mexico.  That  j)art  of  the 
Church  controlled  by  Spain  was  swayed  by  the  y.cal  and  energy  of  Loyola,  and  it 
was  a  jioint  of  deep  icligioiis  ciiiiihitioii  and  ti'iuiiipli  to  show  the  divided  Churches 
of  lOurope  that  she  was  siicccsst'iilly  engaged  in  convei'ting  the  millions  of  new-found 
idolatrous  aliorigines  to  the  true  faith.  In  this  eil'ort  conipiest  itself  beciune  one  oi' 
the  eliief  means  of  securing  the  triuniplis  of  tlie  Spanish  Church.     The  very  state 


ANTJQUJTIKS. 


129 


of  tli«  liiiililingH,  artH,  und  jm)\viu"  of  tlie  Iiuliiins  wiw  oxaggeriiU'tl  to  hIiow  the  grciit- 
lU'HH  of  tilt'  victory  uiul  t(»  fiiliaiici!  tlio  glory  of  the  coiKiiicst.  Let  the  Hiiiniht  journal 
of  lieriial  Diaz,  nay,  the  poliHlied  und  elahorate  luHtory  of  J)e  Soiin,  be  read  with  a 
view  to  tiiin  general  stat(^  of  things,  and  the  olwerver  eannot  fail  to  diHcover  at  every 
Hte|»  the  strong  tendency  tt)  overewtiniate  the  state  of  arts,  the  power  of  the  Indian 
government,  and  the  general  type  of  seini-eivili/ation.  A  dressed  deer-skin,  with 
rude  deviecM  of  animals  and  men,  folded  in  a  (piadrangnlar  form,  was  |)ronouneed  "  a 
Itoolv ;"  the  stroke  of  an  Indian  drnm-sliek,  "u  gong;"  rude  walls,  witlunit  a  door  or 
a  roof,  "a  fort;"  the  merest  crude  fabrics  of  wearing,  without  the  knowledge  of  a  dis- 
tair  or  a  shuttle,  were  likened  to  the  mantles  of  European  kings;  a  cacitjue,  with  his 
plunu's,  was  "  a  noble ;"  and  Montezuma  himself,  a  sagamore  swaying  chiefs  of  lesser 
power,  was  exalted  by  the  term  of  "emperor,"  a  word  unknown  to  the  Aztec  lan- 
guage. They  made  j)ot.s  and  vases  by  hand,  but  had  not  the  knowledge  of  the  pot- 
ter's wheel  or  of  the  wooden  lathe.  What  sort  of  civilization  would  Europe  have 
without  these  simple  arts?  They  ha<l  no  skill  in  fusion.  They  melted  no  iron,  they 
made  no  glass.  Gold  reipiired  no  skill  in  separation  from  it.s  matrix,  and  the  rude 
images  of  animals  sent  over  to  Spain  by  Cortex  diil  not  excee<l  the  art  of  u  Potta- 
watomie. 

The  urt.s  of  the  semi-civilized  tribes  of  Mexico  extended  to  about  !M°  X.  lat. 
Towns  with  municipal  regulations  and  a  population  of  industrial  habits  and  man- 
ners were  found  by  the  iSpanish  in  the  area  on  the  eastern  borders  of  the  Gulf 
of  California,  extending  northward  to  the  river  Gila  and  to  Cibola,  the  modern  Zufii, 
reaching  onward  northeastwardly  to  Isleta,  on  the  llio  (jrande  del  Norte,  and  to 
(^uivera  and  to  I'ecos,  the  ancient  Cicuyc,  east  of  that  stream. 

When  the  English  (half  a  century  after  Coronado)  landed  on  the  coasts  of  Vir- 
ginia, in  lat.  alxHJt  '.io°,  the  trii)cs  whom  they  encountered  resembled,  indeed,  in  their 
physical  traits,  those  of  Mexico,  but  they  were  in  the  state  of  savage  hunters. 
Hudson,  in  1(>()'.),  lound  the  same  remark  applicable  to  the  Manhattanese  and  Mohi- 
cans of  \cw  York,  and  the  same  observation  was  made  by  the  English  Pilgrims  who 
landed  in  New  England  in  1<)2().  Their  early  writers  describe  the  tribes  as  being 
in  a  very  low  state  of  barbarism,  and  as  demon-worshippers,  under  the  ]>ower  of  A'«- 
mii/o-wi/.  Cartier,  who  had  discovered  tlu^  St.  Lawrenci'  in  I'')'.)'),  six  years  before 
Coronado's  expedition  to  New  Mexico,  describes  them  as  having  only  the  manners 
and  arts  of  hunters.  Champlain,  the  real  founder  of  Canatia,  in  IdOK,  takes  the 
same  vi«'W,  although  he  found  both  generic  stocks  of  the  Jro([Uois  and  Algonkins, 
as  is  perceived  from  comparisons,  a  decidedly  more  athletic,  vigonais,  and  brave 
people  than  the  Tra.s-Gila  or  Mexican  tribes.  Among  the  Inxjuois  especially  he 
notict'd  tlicm  to  U'  cultivators  of  large  (|uaMlities  of  maize,  very  brave  in  war,  and 
actuated  by  the  ccntr:!!i:^;'d  and  progr»'ssive  principles  of  a  conl'eileration  of  cantons. 
Colden,  in<leed,  infoi  nis  u.  that  the  Algonkins  had  preceded  the  Iroquois  in  their 
attainments,  but  leav  '.-^  us  i  .  inter  that  they  fell  behind  in  their  power  and  inlluence 
in  coMsiMpicnce  mainN  of  tucir  want  of  confedei'atinn,  the  existt'iict' of  which  ren- 
dered the  Iro(piois  one  u;iti  united  in  their  elVorts,  external  and  internal.     In  this 

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130 


J7/i;  INDIAN  TRIBES  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


respect  they  stood  out  prominently  among  all  the  Northern  tribes,  evincing  a  degree 
of  wisdom  and  policy  that  would  not  have  been  unworthy  of  Greeks,  and  they  con- 
tinued to  exorcise  this  influence  and  standing  through  all  the  colonial  period  till  the 
close  of  the  American  Revolution. 

As  the  other  colonies  were  jjlanted,  their  leaders  concurred  in  the  views  originally 
expressed  by  their  predecessors  of  the  Indian  tribes,  and  also  in  the  opinion  of  the 
veiy  obvious  advantage  which  the  politico-agricultural  element  had  given  to  the  Iro- 
quois. Robert  de  la  Salle  in  1G78  laid  the  foundations  of  Fort  Niagara,  and  pro- 
ceeded the  following  year  to  the  Mississippi  River,  of  which,  through  Joliet,  the 
commissioner,  and  Marquette,  he  was  the  discoverer,  at  the  influx  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin. These  exjilorei-s  found  the  Western  tribes,  as  well  as  the  Irofjuois,  to  be  culti- 
vators of  maize.  But  neither  he  nor  any  of  his  lieutenants  or  missionary  teachers 
make  detailed  observations  on  the  history,  migrations,  antiquities,  or  tn>ditions  of  the 
tribes.  It  was  not,  in  fact,  the  age  for  this  species  of  research.  The  subject  of  an- 
tiquities is  never  named.  It  does  not  ap2)ear  from  this  comparative  silence  that 
during  the  settlement  of  New  France  the  active  adventurers  and  missionaries  of  the 
jwriod  observed  any  evidences  of  skill  or  arts  which  they  did  not  suppose  to  bo 
common  to  the  existing  tribes,  or  which  their  predecessors  had  not  erected.  Pipes, 
tobacco,  sea-shells,  copper  ornaments,  mica,  flint-stones,  and  Indian  corn  were  objects 
of  native  traffic.  They  viewed  the  intrenchments  and  ditches  formed  to  protect 
villages  from  the  sudden  attacks  of  hostile  bands  as  requiring  no  labor  which  the 
pojnilation  was  not  adecjuate  to  bestow,  or  which  called  for  remark.  The  heaps  or 
mounds  of  earth  at  that  jwriod  were  regarded  as  simple  mausolea  for  the  dead.  It 
was  not  necessary  to  imagine  a  state  of  arts  and  semi-civilization  which  at  best  was 
very  far  inferior  lo  what  the  same  race  of  tribes  had  attained  a  few  degrees  farther 
south. 

Louisiana  was  colonized  late  in  the  seventeenth  century.  La  Salle  made  the  effbrt 
in  IG80,  and  a  settlement  had  been  made  at  Biloxi  in  109!> ;  but  New  Orleans  was 
not  founded  till  1717.  This  was  ten  years  after  the  settlement  of  Vincennes  in 
the  country  of  the  Illinois,  sixteen  years  after  the  ('.>^tablishiuent  of  a  military  post  at 
Detroit,  and  full  eight-and-thirty  after  the  foundation  of  Michilimaokinac,  the  Pcck- 
wulinong  of  the  In<lians,  on  the  peninsula  of  ]\Iichigan.  This  view  opens  the  pan- 
orama of  the  settlements  in  the  Mississij>pi  Valley  and  the  great  chain  of  lakes. 
The  French  admired  the  tribes,  and  spoke  enthusiiustically  of  their  character,  but 
it  did  not  apjjcar  to  them  that  they  possessed  arts  or  had  any  skill  in  the  application 
of  labor  beyond  that  of  their  actual  condition  as  foresters.  They  made  bows  and 
arrows,  clul)s  and  spears,  skilfully.  They  carved  their  pipes  artistically  from  steatites 
and  other  soft  material.  They  fre<[ueiitly  chose  the  sites  of  their  villages  on  emi- 
nences, which  deiioted  good  taste  and  a  poetic  feeling,  and  often  surrounded  them 
with  pickets.  They  buried  their  dead  in  mounds  or  simple  graves,  with  pictograjdiic 
lieadposts.  Fires  were  usually  lighted  on  tliose  at  night.  No  discrimination  was 
made  between  iu!W  and  ancient  works  of  this  kind,  which  latter  had  itccii  al)an<l(ined 
from  sickness,  fear,  <tr  superstition.     When  the  Xcutcr  Nation  and  their  allien,  the 


ANTIQUITIES. 


131 


Andastes  and  Eries,  built  forts  to  sustain  themselves  against  tlie  attacks  of  the  Iro- 
quois, between  1635  and  1055,  t'\e  period  of  their  first  overthrow,  it  did  not  appear 
to  the  French  an  exercise  of  military  art  beyond  the  general  condition  of  the  tribes. 
Neither  did  such  an  impression  occur  to  the  train  of  explorers,  civil  and  religious, 
who,  in  1678,  followed  in  the  track  of  La  Salle  in  his  explorations  of  the  West. 
Marquette  expresses  no  surprise  at  the  "  earthen  pots"  or  shapely  "  calumets"  of  native 
manufacture  in  the  tribes  he  passed  among.  He  saw  nothing  of  antiquarian  value 
to  notice,  though  he  must  have  seen  the  totemic  mounds  of  the  Wisconsin  and  the 
platform-mound  at  the  ancient  site  of  Prairie  du  Chien ;  nor  do  D'Ablon,  AUouez, 
Le  Clerq,  or  Membre,  in  their  numerous  adventures  extending  through  tlie  whole 
area  of  the  Uj)per  Mississippi  Valley,  at  that  period,  anywhere  refer  to  the  topic. 
Charlovoix  in  1721  travelled  through  the  Indian  country  of  New  France  from  Que- 
bec to  Michilimackinac,  and  thence  to  the  Mississippi,  which  he  descended  to  New 
Orleans,  without  seeming  to  have  i)assed  antiquarian  vestiges  attributable  to  any 
other  races  of  men  than  the  ancestors  of  the  existing  tribes.  He  regards  the  tribes 
whom  he  had  visited,  namely,  from  the  moutli  of  the  Mississippi,  lat.  30°  N.,  to  the 
banks  of  Lake  Superior,  at  Chigoimegou  or  Sandy  River,  as  one  in  manners,  customs, 
and  history. 

SPINNING  AND   WEAVING. 

To  determine  the  state  of  art,  and  consequently  the  degree  of  serai-civilization,  of 
the  ancient  inhabittints  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  of  the  mound  period,  of  which 
these  vestiges  are  the  only  history  left,  we  must  draw  the  chronology  emjiloyed  from 
the  remains  themselves.  The  distaft'  is  one  of  the  oldest  evidences  of  human  civili- 
zation. This  art  appears  in  the  vory  dawn  of  Grecian  history,  and  it  is  intimately 
interwoven  in  the  descriptions  of  the  various  phases  of  art  down  to  the  days  of  Ark- 
wright  and  Watt  and  Bolton,  Spinning  and  weaving  by  machinery  marked  an  era. 
For  the  distaff  there  was  substituted  in  the  cotton-growing  latitudes  of  Mexico  and 
South  America  a  simple  movement  resembling  that  of  the  top  or  teetotum  whirled 
in  a  bowl.  With  the  thread  thus  obtained  a  species  of  weaving  was  effected  by  the 
ancient  Mexicans  and  Peruvians.  This  is  traced,  in  the  diffusion  of  the  art,  as 
far  north  a.s  the  llio  Gila.  The  tribes  of  the  Mississipi)i  Valley  had  not  the  cotton- 
plant  even  so  late  iw  De  Soto's  day  (1542).  They  employed  the  fibre  of  certain 
plants  of  the  hemp  species,  or  of  tiic  inner  macerated  bark  of  certain  trees,  for  gar- 
ments. Tlie.se,  by  a  toilsome  manipulation  of  the  females,  were  woven  into  tilmas 
and  mantles  by  a  kind  of  hand-loom,  such  as  is  still  in  use  by  the  descendants  of 
tiiese  tribes,  anil  into  bags  and  mats.  The  hand-weaving  of  nets  from  rushes  and 
twine  of  a  native  make  is  another  art  of  probably  early  date.  After  the  introduction 
of  woollen  goods  the  Indian  females  of  North  America  used  a  woof  of  the  yarn  of 
unravelled  cloth,  together  with  a  native  warp  of  vegetable  material,  which  greatly 
complicates  the  fabric.  It  is  believed  that  the  sainj)les  taken  from  a  mound  in  the 
West,  exhibited  by  Mr.  Foster  in  1851  at  a  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for 


r 


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1::1 


m 


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132 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Promoting  Science,  were  of  this  species,  and  consequently  that  these  indices  are  of 
suggestive  importance.' 

How  little  improvement  has  marked  the  rude  native  mode  of  spinning  and  weav- 
ing, as  thus  described,  is  shown  by  examining  modern  specimens  of  native  production 
in  the  same  tyjie  of  art.  The  common  coarse  muahkemoot  of  the  Algonkins  and  of 
the  Dakotas  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  at  this  day  consists  of  a  mixed  fabric  of  vege- 
table fibre  and  of  wool,  the  latter  obtjiined  by  unravelling  old  cloth  of  European  or 
American  fabric.  In  articles  designed  by  these  tribes  for  ornament  in  hunter-life, 
such  as  shot-  and  tobacco-jjouches,  small  porcelain  beads,  white  or  colored,  of  European 
make,  are  introduced  into  the  texture.  It  is  in  this  respect  alone  that  the  modern 
Indian  hand-weaving  of  the  "  Mississippi  Valley"  tribes  of  the  present  era  excels  the 
ancient  fabrics. 


METALLURGY. 

Does  the  state  of  their  metallurgy  indicate  a  higher  skill  ?  Soldering  is  an  art 
unknown  to  the  Mississippi  Valley  mound-builders.  All  the  antique  bracelets  of 
copper  disinterred  from  these  mounds  which  have  been  examined  are  merely  bent 
slips  of  the  metal  hammered  out  and  brought  into  contact  without  interfusion.  If  it 
be  meant  to  unite  the  opposite  ends  of  a  piece  of  metal  which  has  been  bent  to  form 
a  circle,  as  a  ring  or  a  bracelet,  it  requires  a  composition  of  some  of  the  semi-metals 
under  the  force  of  the  blow-jiipe  to  produce  union.  This  is  a  primary  point  of  the 
smith's  knowledge.  No  bracelets  or  other  objects  of  metal  have,  indeed,  been  dis- 
covered in  the  numerous  mounds  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississijipi  Valleys  which  denote 
the  existence  of  this  art. 


I'OTTJOUY. 


The  proofs  derived  from  pottery  are  very  indicative  of  aboriginal  periods.     The 
potter's  art  is  very  ancient.     The  potter's  wheel  is  distinctly  mentioned  by  Isaiah 


'  In  the  Anierioan  Suientific  Convention  at  Albany,  Now  York,  Prof.  J.  W.  Foster,  U.  S.  Geologist, 
read  a  paper  descriptive  of  samples  of  aneicnt  clotii  from  the  mounds  of  Ohio. 

3Ir.  Foster  said  that  as  far  back  as  1837  specimens  of  the  samo  cloth  had  been  presented  to  him,  but 
he  questioned  the  reality  of  it,  and  feared  to  make  it  public  lest  he  should  be  propa)]^tin<;  an  error.  The 
Hpocimens  are  of  a  diflfuront  texture.  One  may  have  been  made  by  the  ordinary  means  of  wcavin;;,  but  the 
other  is  evidently  the  result  of  some  handicrafl.  Tiiero  seems  to  be  some  connection  between  the  Peruvians 
and  the  Alound- Builders.  The  present  specimens  were  taken  from  a  mound  about  two  miles  from  Middlet4>wn, 
Ohio.  It  is  evident  (hat  the  Indians  never  made  this  cloth,  for  they  did  not  understand  weavin<;,  and  they 
did  not  obtain  it  from  Kurope,  for  it  is  not  such  as  would  have  been  made  for  their  trade.  This  cloth  poes 
far  towards  authorizing'  a  distinction  between  the  North  American  Iniiian.')  and  the  Mound- Builders.  It  is 
composed  of  a  material  closely  allied  to  hemp.  Dr.  Ooadby  said  that  it  was  easy  to  distinguish  between  the 
fibre  of  flax  and  that  of  cotton.  The  former  is  round  and  solid,  while  the  "ther  presents  the  appearance  of 
a  vegetable  tube.  Prof  Agassiz  suggested  that  this  clotli  might  be  made  of  nettles.  He  said  he  hud  seen 
such  in  Switzerland,  and  on  the  first  view  it  was  his  iinpre,s,sion  that  the  cloth  in  (|ueslii>n  wa.s  made  of  the 
North  American  nettle.  Prof.  Uenwick,  of  Newark,  then  inquired  if  this  was  not  spoken  of  by  Columbus 
in  his  discovery.     It  was  his  impression  that  it  was."— /?ry)or(  .4m.  Sd.  .Umc. 


ih 


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aM—MBKiiiiriiiiminitniiftm  mm 


ANTIQUITIES. 


133 


and  Ezekiel.  There  is  no  evidence  whatever  tliat  this  wheel  was  used  in  America  at 
the  period  of  its  discovery.  All  the  Mexican  and  Peruvian  pottery  examined  is 
found  to  have  been  formed  by  a  species  of  handicraft  without  machinery.  It  ex- 
hibits no  striflB  to  denote  the  centrifugal  force,  and  it  is  without  exactitude  of  diame- 
ter. Least  of  all  are  these  requisites  present  in  the  Mississippi  pottery.  This  article 
is  found  in  every  instance  to  be  unglazed.  The  aborigines  knew  nothing  of  the 
vitric  art. 

The  area  covered  by  relics  of  Indian  pottery  in  the  United  States  is  very  ex- 
tensive. Fragments  of  it  taken  from  the  valleys  of  the  Merrimac,  Connecticut, 
Hudson,  Susquehanna,  Delaware,  Congaree,  Savannah,  and  Alabama  are  nearly  iden- 
tical in  their  composition  and  mechanical  texture,  and  it  also  agrees  in  character 
with  the  vases  and  fragments  from  old  sites  of  Indian  earthworks  and  occupation  in 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Valleys.  This  antique  pottery  is  a  very  coarse  and  peculiar 
species  of  terra-cotta ;  it  admitted,  from  its  coarse  texture,  the  aj>plication  of  sudden 
heat.  The  tendency  of  the  aluminous  material  of  common  clay  to  shrink  and  crack 
is  counteracted  by  the  admixture  of  silicious  granitic  particles,  or  finely  pulverized 
shells.  The  ancient  akeek  or  hominy-pot  of  the  tribes  was  generally  used  like  the 
sand-bath  in  operative  chemistry.  It  was  set  in  a  bed  of  coals  or  ashes,  or  sus- 
pended by  a  tripod  with  bark  strings.  In  the  Southern  States  vases  and  i>orringers 
were  made  from  the  saino  coarse  materials.  Human  figures  were  sometimes  moulded 
from  the  phustic  mass,  antique  specimens  of  which  are  thought  to  indicate  the  trans- 
ferrence  to  this  hemisphere  of  the  2)hallic  worship  of  India.  The  Florida  pottery  is 
superior  in  composition,  manufacture,  and  ornament  to  that  of  the  Atlantic  and  Lake 
tribes.  It  is  a  tradition  of  the  Shawanoes  that  Floriila  was  anciently  inhabited  by 
white  men,  and  that  their  ancestors  found  vestiges  of  arts  such  as  were  not  common 
to  the  red  men. 

PIPE-SCULPTUUE. 

Another  example  of  the  ancient  state  of  art  of  the  tribes  of  the  United  States  is 
found  in  the  enamels,  and  wrought  shells  and  pipes,  sculptured  and  earthenware. 
Indian  art  appears  to  have  had  its  germ  in  this  latter  peculiar  species  of  sculpture, 
which  was  the  only  one  of  their  arts  that  withstood  the  shock  of  the  introduction  of 
European  skill.  The  ancient  forms  of  these  are  shown  by  the  disclosures  of  their 
graves  and  altar-mounds  in  the  West  to  have  been  very  elaborate.  The  specimens 
iigured  by  Mr.  Scjuier  from  the  Scioto  Valley  evince  a  very  close  observation  of  the 
peculiar  and  distinguishing  traits  of  various  species  of  carnivorous  birds,  quadrupeds, 
and  reptiles.  The  imitative  faculty  appears  to  be  very  strong  in  the  Indian  in  all 
periods  of  his  history,  and  has  been  brought  out  with  much  skill  in  connection  witii 
this  very  striking  habit.  We  observe  a  similar,  but  not  in  this  instance  a  superior, 
degree  of  skill  to  have  existed  among  the  Toltecs,  Aztecs,  and  native  Teruvians. 
Their  ardor  seems  to  have  Iwen  drawn  off  in  a  measure  from  pipe-stulpture  to  pot- 
tery, arcliitecture,  picture-writing,  and  perhaps  jiure  hieroglyphics,  while  the  United 
States  tribes  continued  to  devote  their  highest  skill  to  pipe-sculpture. 


11 


I  'a 


i       ti'ls.! 


134 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUB  UNITED  STATES. 


The  sculpture  of  jiipcs  from  stones  and  various  brittle  species  of  minerals  is 
an  ancient  and  truly  Indian  art,  as  is  most  completely  shown  by  all  ages  of  Indian 
sepulture,  and  ])!irticularly  by  those  of  the  mound  epoch.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  the  pipe-sculptures  of  the  Scioto  Valley,  the  ancient  capital  of  Indian  power  in 
the  Ohio  Valley,  evince  a  state  of  art  superior  to  the  general  aboriginal  type.  Mr. 
Squier  (see  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley),  who  advances  this  idea,  deceives 
liinisclf  if  he  imagines  that  these  offerings  from  the  altar-mounds  of  that  valley 
denote  a  higher  state  of  art  than  that  of  the  Toltecs  or  Aztecs,  the  state  of  pipe-carv- 
ing of  the  old  Allegan  tribes,  or  even  that  of  some  of  the  United  States  Indians  of 
the  present  day. 

From  the  earliest  date  a  character  of  sacredness  has  been  attached  by  the  Amer- 
ican tribes  to  the  incineration  of  tobacco,  an  article  which  has  been  in  use  as  an 
acceptable  gift  to  the  Deity.  It  was  supposed  by  them  to  be  the  most  desirable  of 
all  offerings  to  the  Great  Spirit,  and  it  entered  largely  into  their  ceremonial  rites  and 
social  pleasures.  The  art  of  sculpture  with  them  was  concentrated  on  this  single 
branch,  namely,  the  making  of  pipe-bowls.  These  were  wrought  usually  from  steatites, 
serpentines,  shales,  soft  tertiary  red  stones,  or  other  fissile  indurated  minerals.  Even 
fossil  coal  has  been  found  as  the  material.  The  object  of  art  was  to  conceal  the  chief 
design  of  using  it  as  a  smoking  apparatus  under  some  animated  form,  as  a  lizard, 
frog,  bird,  or  quadruped,  which  was  sculptured  often  with  considerable  spirit  and 

justness  of  proportions. 

1 

INDIAN   AXES. 

Various  stone  implements  of  the  antique  period  of  the  hunter  occupancy  of 
America  have  received  the  name  of  "  Indian  axes."  The  ancient  Indians,  prior  to 
the  era  of  the  discovery  of  America,  had  no  use  for  an  axe  in  the  sense  in  which 
we  apply  the  term  nowadays.  Fire  wius  the  agent  they  employed  in  felling  trees 
and  reducing  their  trunks  to  proper  lengths.  There  w.is  no  cutting  of  trees.  No 
stone  axe  possesses  the  hardness  or  sharpness  essential  to  cut  the  solid  fibres  of  an 
oak,  a  pine,  an  elm,  or  any  other  species  of  American  tree.  When  the  wants  of 
an  Indian  hunter  had  determined  him  to  fell  a  tree  in  order  to  make  a  log  canoe  or 
01  instruct  pickets  for  a  palisade,  he  lighted  a  lire  closo  around  it  upon  the  ground. 
When  the  fire  had  burned  in  so  as  to  produce  a  coal  that  might  impede  its  further 
progress,  a  stone  instrument  of  peculiar  construction,  with  a  handle  to  keep  the 
pei"son  from  the  heat,  was  employed  to  pick  away  the  coal  and  keep  the  surface  fresh. 
This  is  the  instrument  called  by  the  Indians  agakwul,  to  which  popular  opinion  has 
usually  applied  the  name  of  axe. 

The  mode  of  using  this  ancient  axe,  which  would  be  more  appropriately  classed 
as  a  pick,  was  by  twisting  around  it,  of  a  size  corresjMinding  to  the  ring,  a  supple 
withe,  forming  the  handle,  which  could  be  firmly  tied  together,  and  which  would 
enable  the  user  to  strike  a  firm  inward  blow.  This  handle  wius  not  at  right  angles 
with  the  axe.  It  was  so  placed,  as  the  ring  shows,  that  at  about  the  length  of 
three  feet  it  would  intersect  a  line  drawn  at  right  angles  from  the  foot  of  the  blade. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


185 


or  edge  of  greatest  sharpness.    This  incidence  of  the  handle  to  the  hiade  would  en- 
able an  indrawing  blow  to  be  struck,  for  which  there  were  practical  reasons. 


FUNERAL  VASE. 

The  idea  of  placing  food  in  or  near  the  grave  to  serve  the  departed  spirit  on  its 
journey  to  the  fancied  land  of  rest  in  another  world  is  connected  with  the  ancient 
belief  in  a  duality  of  souls.  It  exists  among  the  present  tribes  of  the  United  States. 
One  of  these  souls  is  liberated  at  death,  but  the  other  is  compelled  to  abide  with  the 
body,  and  it  is  to  provide  for  this  that  a  dish  or  vase  of  food  is  deposited  generally 
at  this  day,  not  in  the  grave,  to  be  buried  with  the  corpse,  but  under  a  close  covering 
of  bark  erected  over  the  grave. 

The  ancient  Indians  placed  this  food  in  a  vase  of  unglazed  pottery  in  the  grave. 
This  pottery,  as  disclosed  by  graves,  is  of  a  dark  color,  and  consists  of  clay  and  shells 
slightly  baked.  The  vase  is  generally  small,  sometimes  not  more  than  six  inches  in 
height,  but  occasionally  from  nine  to  ten ;  it  is  seldom  more.  It  is  uniformly  without 
a  foot,  and  with  the  lip  slightly  turned,  and  externally  ornamented.  The  ornamenta 
were  evidently  impressed  on  the  vase  in  its  soft  state,  and  are  unpainted. 

Nearly  every  ancient  Indian  grave  that  has  been  opened  in  the  State  of  Ten- 
nessee has  one  of  these  ancient  vases,  or  "  crocks,"  as  they  are  popularly  called. 
Their  use  can  hardly  be  imagined  without  adverting  to  this  ancient  custom. 

The  small  burial-mounds  of  Florida,  along  the  Gulf  coast,  are  literally  filled  with 
these  antique  vases.  These  places  of  sepulture  are  locally  denominated  "  feasting- 
inounds,"  from  an  evident  impression  that  the  ancient  vases  were  dedicated  to  some 
purpose  of  this  kind.  It  apjwars  to  be  a  peculiarity  in  those  discovered  near  the  Ap- 
l)alachicola,  as  observed  by  Mr.  Hitchcock,  that  at  the  bottom  of  each  vase  a  small 
orifice  is  found,  broken  in. 

The  late  Dr.  Douglas  Houghton  obtained  fragments  of  the  same  species  of  ware 
from  some  ancient  works  existing  in  Chautauqua  County,  New  York.  This  locality 
is  near  the  village  of  Fredonia,  but  a  little  distance  from  the  banks  of  Lake  Erie. 
Dr.  Houghton  found  at  the  same  place,  and  made  of  the  same  material,  the  fra'  ments 
of  a  small  but  curious  clay  image,  which  was  ornamented  with  a  head-dress  resem- 
bling very  accurately  the  skin  of  a  bear's  head,  the  nose  pointing  directly  in  front. 
The  great  extent  of  country  over  which  the  vases  are  found  denotes  the  general  preva- 
lence of  the  custom  at  the  ancient  era  of  these  graves,  and  of  the  mounds  and  earth- 
works which  exist. 

AISUKUN,  OE  BONE   AWL. 

Before  the  discovery,  men's  and  women's  clothes  were  made  of  skins  or  dressed 
leather.  It  was  neceasary  to  the  formation  of  garments  for  the  body  and  legs,  and 
of  shoes  for  the  feet,  that  some  hard  and  sharp  instrument  should  be  employed, 
capable  of  readily  j)enetrating  the  skin  or  leather.  The  ancient  luothod  of  sewing 
practised  by  our  tribes  resembled  that  of  a  motlern  cordwainer  rather  than  of  a 


^^^P^"^WPP 


ll  I 


136 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


seamstress  or  tailor.  Leathor,  droHsod  or  undressed,  being  the  material  to  be  put 
together,  this  was  accomplished  by  making  holes  in  the  edges  of  the  garment  or  skin, 
and  pushing  through  these  the  ends  of  deer  sinews,  or  other  fibrous  integument.  For 
this  j)urpose  the  small  and  compact  end  of  a  horn,  which  is  cul'ed  a'ushkun  by  the 
Algonkins,  wiw  em])loyed.  Sometimes  a  rib  bone,  at  other  times  the  tibia  of  an 
animal,  was  used.  These  articles  are  still  employed  for  this  purpose  for  coarse  work 
among  the  remote  tribes.     These  awls  were  of  various  sizes. 

BONE  SHUTTLE. 

In  making  their  mats  or  rude  lodge-tapestry,  and  other  coarse  fabrics,  the  aborigi- 
nes employed  an  instrument  of  bone  of  a  peculiar  construction  which  has  the  prop- 
erties of  u  shuttle.  It  was  designed  to  introduce  the  woof  in  preparing  these  fabrics, 
as  they  did,  from  rushes  and  other  llexible  nmterials  used  for  the  purjjose.  The  art 
was  rude,  and  of  a  kind  to  fall  into  disuse  among  the  coast  tribes  a.s  soon  as  European 
manufactures  were  introduced.  It  is,  therefore,  when  found  in  opening  graves,  etc.,  a 
proof  of  the  ante-European  period. 

One  of  these  antique  implements  was  disclosed  about  ISIJS  in  opening  an  old 
grave  in  the  course  of  some  excavations  which  were  undertaken  within  the  enclosure 
of  Fort  Niagara,  New  York.  This  grave  must  have  been  older  than  the  origin  of 
that  fortress,  the  foundations  of  which  were  laid  by  La  Salle  among  the  Seneca  Iro- 
quois in  1G78. 

This  instrument  is  constructed  of  finely-polished  bone.  It  is  ten  and  a  half  inches 
in  length,  jjcrfectly  cylindrical,  about  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  and  has  a 
double  barbed  head  one  and  a  quarter  inches  in  length.  Between  the  barbs  is  a 
mouth  or  slit  which  would  enable  it  to  carry  the  thread  across  and  through  the 
war]).  The  instrument  is  slightly  curved,  j)robal)ly  owing  to  the  dilliculty  of  finding 
a  bone  of  so  fine  a  quality  perfectly  straight. 


FLESHING    INSTRUMENT,  OK   STONE   CHISEL. 

It  is  known  that  in  skinning  an  animal  some  par'^  of  the  flesh  and  integuments 
will  always  adhere  to  the  skin.  With  a  hunter  the  operation  of  skinning  is  often 
done  in  haste,  and  even  when  there  is  ever  so  much  leisure  the  fear  of  cutting  the 
skin  induces  the  flayer  to  infringe  upon  the  carcass  rather  than  to  endanger  the 
value  of  the  hide. 

In  the  hunter  state  of  society  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  women  to  dress  and 
prepare  the  skins  taken  in  the  duuse.  For  this  jjurpose  the  skins  are  stretched  iii  the 
green  state  on  a  frame,  and  the  flesh  and  integuments  are  cleanly  removed.  This  was 
done  in  the  early  times  by  means  of  an  instrument  of  stone  which  has  often  been 
mistaken  for  a  small  axe.  It  is  a  s])ecies  of  hand  chisel,  blunt  that  it  may  not  cut 
the  skin,  and  yet  of  sufficient  edge  and  hardness  to  permit  a  stout  jerking  blow.  It 
wits  grasped  firmly  by  the  top.     It  recpiired  no  crease  for  the  purjjose  of  binding  it 


ANTIQUITIES. 


137 


t»)  a  hitndlo.     It  wiis  often  very  rude  in  construction,  being  nothing  but  an  elongated 
Htone,  Hinall,  and  brought  to  a  blunt  edge. 

By  this  means  ekiuH  of  the  deer  and  of  other  animals  were  completely  rid  of 
adhering  lle«h  prior  to  currying,  braining,  HUioking,  or  such  other  processes  as  were 
required  to  fit  them  for  the  various  uses  to  which  they  might  be  devoted. 


ANTIQUK   INDIAN   KNIFE. 

Various  substances  have  been  used  lo  supply  the  purpoee  of  a  metallic  knife. 
The  Peruvians  and  the  Azte(»  at  the  epoch  when  the  Spanish  appeared  among  them 
employed  obsidian,  a  species  of  volcanic  rock  which  exists  in  the  Andes  and  the 
Cordilleras.  Sj)cciniens  of  this  article  have  been  found  in  the  Western  barrows, 
where,  however,  it  seems  most  probable  they  came  by  traffic.  We  may  suppose,  in 
other  instances,  that  tribes  displaced  along  the  Gulf  shores  brought  them  to  new 
locations. 

Generally  our  United  States  tribes  employed  flint,  chert,  hornstone,  or  some  other 
form  of  the  silicious  class  of  minerals.  The  first  wants  of  society  are  easily  supplied. 
Teeth  are  a  primitive  resource  among  savage  nations,  and  any  accessible  hard  and 
sliarp  substance  comes  next.  It  is  well  attested  that  the  Appalachian  tribes,  who  all 
lived  in  the  latitudes  of  the  caue,  used  that  very  hard  and  durable  substance  to 
fabricate  knives  from. 


ANCIENT  STONE  BILL,  POINTED   MACE,  OR  TOMAHAWK. 

The  jwinted  mace  found  in  the  early  North  American  graves  and  barrows  is 
uniformly  of  a  8<'niilunar  form.  It  appears  to  have  been  the  cassr-tvtc  or  head- 
break<!r,  such  as  we  can  u.scribe  only  to  a  very  rude  state  of  society.  It  was  employed 
by  warrioi's  prior  to  tlie  introduction  of  the  agakwut  and  tomahawk.  All  the  sjiecimens 
examined  have  an  orifure  in  the  centre  of  the  curve,  for  the  insertion  of  a  handle.  Its 
object  was  to  penetrate  by  its  sharp  jujints  the  skull  of  the  adversary.  This  was  not 
done  by  cutting,  as  with  the  agakwut  or  mace,  but  by  jwrforating  the  cranium  by  its 
own  gravity  and  the  superadded  force  of  the  warrior.  In  an  attuck  it  must  have 
l)een  a  formidable  weapon. 

A  specimen  obtained  from  a  small  mound  on  the  banks  of  the  Tonawanda,  near 
Hatavia,  New  York,  is  of  the  following  dimensions :  length,  eight  inches ;  breadth, 
one  and  a  half  inches ;  thickness,  about  one  and  a  quarter  inches.  The  material  is 
a  neutral-colored  silicious  slate,  excjuisitely  worked  and  polished.  Its  weight  is  half 
a  |)()und.  Another  siwcimen,  from  Oakland  County,  Michigan,  has  both  the  lunar 
points  slightly  broken  off,  yet  it  weighs  six  and  a  half  ounces.  It  is  of  the  same 
material,  but  strijied.     It  is  in  all  respects  a  stouter  instrument. 

The  use  of  this  instrument,  as  well  as  of  the  antique  siKjar  or  shcmagun,  marks 
ail  era  prior  to  the  discovery. 

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138 


THE  INDIAN   TRIHES  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


COPPEU   ARM-  OR   WUIHT-BANDa. 

The  antique  spcclmciiH  of  tiiiH  part  of  pcrHOiml  (lecomtion  which  are  furnished  by 
graves  and  tumuli  do  nut  differ  essentially  in  their  nieehanical  execution  from  similar 
productions  among  the  remote  tribes  of  this  day.  They  are  simple  rings  or  bands  of 
the  metal  bent.  There  is  no  union  of  the  bent  ends  by  soldering.  Oxidation  has 
nearly  destroyed  them  in  the  mound  specimens  which  have  come  to  our  notice.  In 
the  specimens  exhumed  from  the  western  part  of  Virginia,  at  the  (Jreat  Tumulus 
of  ( J  rave  Creek  FlaU<,  a  salt  of  copper,  apparently  a  carbonate,  was  formed  upon  the 
metal  in  such  a  manner  as  to  protect  it  from  further  oxidation. 

The  use  of  this  metal  appears  to  have  Iwen  very  general  by  the  American  tribes 
at  and  jirior  to  the  era  of  the  discovery,  and  the  occurrence  of  the  ornaments  in 
graves  and  tumuli  may  be  generally  set  down  to  that  era. 

The  fur-trade,  which  immediately  succeeiled  the  arrival  of  the  first  ships.  Boon 
replaced  this  rude  ornament  by  bands  and  bracelets  of  silver  or  silvered  copper  and 
tin.  The  passion  for  silver  in  all  its  manufactured  forms  was  early  developed  among 
the  tribes.  They  regarded  it  as  a  nobler  metal  than  gold.  The  name  for  gold  in  all 
the  languages  known  to  us  is  a  modern  descriptive  phrase  signi^'ving  "yellow  metal." 
It  would  hence  appear  that  gold  is  not  a  product  of  the  coantries  or  isluudt)  from 
which  the  tribes  orijiiniited. 


ANOMALOUS  OBJECTS  OF  ART   AND  CUSTOM. 

There  was  found  on  opening  some  of  the  minor  mounds  of  the  Ohio  Valley 
a  species  of  tube,  carved  out  of  steatite,  whicli  attracted  ttttenti(m.  These  tubes 
appeared  to  have  been  bored  by  some  instrument  possessing  a  degree  of  hardness 
superior  to  steatite.  One  end  was  entirely  open ;  the  other  had  a  small  aperture,  as 
if  it  had  been  intended  to  facilitate  suction  by  a  temporary  rod  and  valve.  The 
same  district  of  country  disclosed  by  its  tunudi  large  nu»sses  of  the  silvery  kind  of 
mica,  which  nuiy,  from  its  small  ])erforations,  have  been  designed  for  ornamenting 
ancient  costume.  Other  mounds  of  the  same  region  contained  a  very  thick  and 
heavy  species  of  pottery,  which  seemed,  from  its  fragments,  to  have  been  employed 
for  saline  kettles  or  some  metallurgic  oi)eration.  A  singular  species  of  amulet,  ap- 
parently, wiLs  used  by  the  Potomac  tribes.  Hollow  Imnes  of  birds  were  employed  as 
a  sort  of  baldric  by  the  ancient  Indians.  They  were  of  various  lengths,  reaching 
to  three  inches,  and  were  bound  around  the  body  by  a  cord  jMiasing  through  them. 
These  articles  were  taken  from  the  ossuaries  at  Beverley,  in  Canada.  In  the  same 
location  were  deposited  what  aj)pear  to  have  been  walking-canes,  having  the  twist  of 
a  vine  about  them,  and  domestic  utensils  of  wood,  all  of  which  are,  however,  now 
completely  mineralized.  In  some  of  the  low  mounds  of  Florida  were  discovered  the 
fragments  of  a  utensil  the  purpose  of  which  appears  to  have  been  the  preparation 
of  some  liquid  or  drink  which  required  to  be  ceremonially  poured  out  without  the 
possibility  of  the  contents  being  spilled  and  lost. 


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ANTIQUITIES. 


LOCAL  MANITOES. 


139 


The  superstitions  of  the  existing  race  of  Indians  are  evinced  by  their  frequently 
selecting  curiously-wrought  boulders  of  rock,  called  Shin-ga-ba-ivas-ain  by  the  Al- 
gonkins.  These  boulders  have  the  essential  character  of  idols.  They  mark  the 
supposed  locality  of  some  god  of  the  air.  They  are  sometimes  distinguished  by  the 
use  of  pigments.  They  are  generally  oddly-shaped  water-worn  ma^es,  upon  which 
no  chisel  or  labor  of  any  kind  has  been  employed. 

REED   FOR  ROPE-   AND  TWINE-MAKING. 

We  can  refer  to  no  period  of  their  traditions  when  the  Indian  tribes  were  desti- 
tute of  the  art  of  making  twine  and  a  small  kind  of  rope.  Although  they  had 
not  the  hemp  plant,  there  were  several  species  of  shrubs  commonly  found  in  the 
forest,  from  the  inner  bark  of  which  they  made  these  articles.  They  fabricated 
nets  for  fishing,  which  are  referred  to  in  their  ancient  oral  tales.  The  tying  of  sticks 
in  bundles  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  simplest  arts  of  mankind,  and  the  verb  to  tie  has 
therefore  been  selected  by  some  philologists  as  one  of  the  primitives.  It  is,  however, 
a  compound,  consisting  of  a  thirnj  and  an  act,  in  all  the  Algonkin  dialects  known 
to  us. 

The  process  of  twine-  and  rope-making  from  the  barky  fibre  of  certain  plants,  it 
appears,  was  one  connected  with  some  kind  of  machinery.  From  the  species  of  ston? 
reed  that  is  found  in  some  of  the  trmuli,  whose  object  was  to  hold  the  strands  or 
piles  apart,  it  is  probable  that  a  wooden  instrument  having  the  properties  of  a  rope- 
maker's  hand-windlass  was  employed  to  twist  them  together.  Yet  if  this  was  not 
done — and  we  have  no  evidence  that  it  was — the  reed  would  afibrd  some  facilities 
for  hand-twisting. 

We  have  two  remains  of  this  instrument.  The  first  was  found  in  the  upper  vault 
of  the  great  Grave  Creek  Mound.  It  is  six  inches  in  length,  with  two  orifices  for  the 
twine  one  and  three-quarter  inches  apart,  and  tapers  from  the  centre,  where  it  is  one 
and  two-tenth  inches  broad,  to  half  an  inch  at  the  ends.  Thickness,  three-tenths  of 
an  inch. 

The  material  of  this  instrumeut,  examined  j  the  dim  light  of  a  candle  in  the 
rotunda  which  existed  under  this  mound  in  1844,  could  not  be  satisfactorily  deter- 
mined. It  was  of  a  limy  vrhiteness,  rather  heavy,  and  easily  cut.  If,  as  it  appeared 
to  be,  it  was  a  metal  covered  deeply  by  a  metallic  oxide,  that  fact  coulu  not  be 
determiiK.  1  without  the  application  of  tests,  for  which  no  opportunity  was  aflbrded. 

GEOLOGICAL  CHANGES. 

There  is  a  fact  in  regard  to  American  antiquities  which  deserves  attention.  It 
is  the  geological  changes  in  the  surface  of  the  country  which  have  supervened.    Ac- 


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140 


TirJU  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


cumulations  of  soil  along  the  rivers  have  buried  the  older  antiquities  to  a  consider- 
able depth,  and  large  forests  are  found  in  some  situations  growing  on  these  new 
deposits  of  alluvion.  Such  is  the  case  on  the  banks  of  the  Arkansas  and  White 
Rivers,  where  the  archaiological  evidences  of  ancient  metallurgic  operations  are  cov- 
ered by  the  river  soil  and  forests.  Such  is  also  the  position  of  some  of  the  antiqua- 
rian vestiges  in  the  Great  Lake  basins.  In  1834  a  vase  was  discovered  at  Thunder 
Bay,  on  Lake  Huron,  at  the  base  of  the  roots  of  a  large  hemlock-tree  which  had 
been  torn  up  by  a  tempest,  bringing  to  the  surface  a  large  mass  of  clay  soil  many 
feet  in  depth.  This  vase  contained  a  pipe  of  earthenware,  together  with  some  dorsal 
fish-bones  which  may  have  been  employed  as  instruments.  In  the  St.  Mary's  Valley 
a  well-hammered  coj)per  chisel  was  raised  from  the  soil  at  the  depth  of  several  feet. 


CONCLUSIONS. 

Bartram,  a  well-known  American  naturalist  and  traveller,  and  a  close  observer 
of  the  arts  and  society  of  the  Indians,  in  1773  passed  through  their  territories  from 
Florida  to  the  Mississippi.  He  closes  his  travels  with  this  observation :  "  Concerning 
the  monuments  of  Americans  I  deem  it  necessary  to  observe  as  my  opinion  that  none 
of  them  that  I  have  seen  discover  the  least  signs  of  the  arts,  sciences,  or  architecture 
of  the  Europeans  or  other  inhabitants  of  the  Old  World,  yet  evidently  betray  every 
mark  of  the  most  distant  antiquity." 

In  the  view  which  has  been  given  of  antiquities  which  formerly  covered  the 
American  forests  it  appears  evident,  if  we  dismiss  the  class  of  supposed  vestiges  of 
the  Copenhagen  period,  tluit  they  preserve  a  parallelism  with  the  manners,  customs, 
and  arts  of  the  tribes.  They  seldom  or  never  rise  above  it,  and  where  they  do  we 
have  reason  at  once  to  suspect  the  intrusive  foot  of  the  ante-Coiumbian  European. 
While  the  arts  of  the  Northern  tribes  had  a  manifest  prototype  in  those  of  the  tribes 
of  the  central  and  equinoctial  regions  of  the  continent,  tliey  did  not  keep  a  parity  of 
advance  with  the  Southern  tril)es.  The  arts  of  the  latter  culminated  in  teocallis  of 
stone,  tumuli,  and  temples,  and  in  despotisms  founded  on  a  very  strong  religious 
element.  Those  of  the  former  terminated  in  terraces  of  earth,  square  platforms, 
mounds  of  refuge  from  floods,  and  of  sepulchre  and  of  sacrifice,  and  the  trilies 
themselves  continued  to  retain  the  government  of  chiefs  and  councils  composed  in 
part  of  the  independent  warrior  claa«,  with  a  voluntary  priesthood  supported  by 
()])inion  and  having  so  simple  and  typical  a  ritual  that  they  often  aj)peared  to  have- 
none  at  all.  The  very  magnificence  of  the  forests,  rivers,  and  lakes  of  the  Northern 
hemisphere  wooed  them  to  the  life  of  hunters  and  nomads.  Tiie  division  into  clans 
and  tribes  and  languages  became  multiform  as  a  matter  of  course.  Where  there  is 
no  written  language,  and  of  course  no  standard  of  comparison,  the  change  in  tiie 
sounds  of  words  goes  on  rapidly,  while  the  great  principles  of  utterance,  or  general 
grammar,  remain.  Mere  change  of  accent  under  such  circumstances  would  produce 
a  dialect.  The  business  of  hunting  and  war  was  carried  to  the  greatest  extent. 
Agriculture  and  drudgery  renniined,  as  we  found  it  in  KKX),  in  the  hands  of  females 


ANTIQUITIES. 


141 


and  boys  and  old  men.  The  war  spirit  led  to  fortifications.  They  felled  trees,  not 
by  cutting  them  down  with  sharp  instruments,  but  by  surrounding  the  trunks  with 
girdling  fires  and  by  the  use  of  the  coal-hatchet  or  peck.  They  fortified  the  strong 
and  commanding  parts  of  hills  and  peninsulas  by  digging  ditches  around  them ;  often 
a  whole  village  was  thus  defended.  The  principle  of  the  Tlascalan  gate  is  found  in 
several  of  the  still  existing  vestiges.  They  raised  large  tumuli  to  the  dead,  as  at 
Cahokia  and  Grave  Creek,  wherever  the  strength  of  a  village  had  admitted,  or  the 
respect  paid  to  their  heroes  or  sages  demanded  it.  They  pursued  veins  of  native 
copper  on  the  surface,  as  we  see  on  Lake  Superior,  or  a  few  feet  below  it,  by  building 
fires  to  heat  the  matrix  or  enclosing  rock,  and  pouring  oi:  water  to  crumble  it.  Mauls 
of  hard  stone  were  used  to  beat  off  the  rock  after  it  had  been  rendered  friable  by  heat. 
A  sapling  with  its  limbs  cut  short  made  a  practical  ladder  to  descend  into  pits.  Did 
not  the  Toltecs  and  Aztecs  mine  the  same  metal  by  the  same  rustic  process  ? 

With  regard  to  garments,  the  dressed  skins  of  animals  formed  the  staple  reliance. 
They  were  often  prepared  with  great  skill,  and  ornamented  with  the  quills  of  the 
porcupine,  dyed  grass  or  sinews,  and  sea-shells.  Court  dresses  had  a  mantle  of  soft 
skins,  covered  with  plates  of  mica,  which  made  a  conspicuous  covering.  Small  and 
beautiful  species  of  sea-shells  were  strung  with  wreaths  for  the  neck.  The  heavy 
conch,  with  its  flesh-colored  nacre,  was  cut  into  medals,  with  orifices  artistically  bored 
horizontally  through  the  plates.  They  wrought  disks  for  public  games  oi  t  of  the 
hardest  porphyry.  Their  canoes  of  bark  and  wood,  their  war-clubs  of  heavy  iron- 
wood  or  maple,  their  bows  and  arrows  tipped  with  the  finest  darts  of  chert,  quartz, 
or  chalcedony,  their  bowls,  pots,  and  household  implements  of  wood,  stone,  and  pot- 
tery, have  often  been  the  topic  of  admiration. 

Their  old  men  liked  to  talk  of  their  ancestry.  All  nations  like  to  discourse  on 
this  subject.  The  old  times  were  always  the  best  with  our  Indians :  their  chiefs, 
their  laws,  their  manners,  their  very  morals  and  languages,  were  then  purer  and 
better.  Speaking  of  the  earthworks  of  the  Mississippi,  Ducoign,  of  Kaskiiskia, 
referred  them  to  his  ancestors.  As  to  the  class  of  intrusive  antiquities,  Indian  tra- 
ditions have  not  entirely  failed  to  reach  them.  Wappockanita,  a  Shawnee  chief,  one 
hundred  and  twentv  years  old,  referred  them  to  white  men  who  had  once  lived  in 
the  Ohio  Valley.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  in  North  America  as  well  as  in  South 
America  the  white  man  luis  had  an  influence  on,  if  he  wits  not  the  originator  of, 
the  higher  arts  of  civilization.  The  progress  of  discovery  leads  to  the  exi>octation 
that  we  may  yet,  by  patient  investigation,  receive  new  lights  on  this  subject. 


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CHAPTER   V. 

RELIGION  AND  MAGIC. 

Idea  of  God — Oojd  and  Evil — Spirits — Dakota  Gods — Giants'  Feast  and  Dance — Immortality — Future 
State — Sun- Worship — Sacred  Fire — Algonkin  Beliefs — Attributes  of  God — Priests  and  Powwows — 
Josstikceds — Mcdos — Magic — War  Magic — Hunting  Magic — Healing  Art — Wabenoes. 

The  fundamental  beliefs  in  the  uninstructcd  mind  of  the  red  man  are  the  creation 
of  the  world  from  chaos  by  the  Great  Spirit,  a  universal  deluge  by  which  men  were 
destroyed,  the  existence  of  two  antagonistic  principles,  Good  and  Evil,  and  the 
worship  of  the  sun  as  the  symbol  and  effulgent  representative  of  the  Creator,  the 
Great  Manito.  A  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is  also  very  prevalent,  but 
the  idea  of  future  punishment  had  no  place  in  his  system. 

Idea  of  God. — Deism  probably  exists  in  no  purer  form  among  the  uncivilized 
nations  of  mankind  than  that  in  which  it  is  found  in  the  abstract  beliefs  of  the  North 
American  tribes.  The  Indian  is,  psychologically  considered,  a  religious  being.  His 
mental  organization  leads  him  to  trust  in  the  power  of  a  Deity.  He  is  a  believer 
in  th 'J  mysterious  and  wonderful.  To  him  the  world  is  replete  with  mysteries  and 
wonders.  Every  phenomenon  in  nature  which  he  cannot  explain  is  the  act  of  a 
God.  The  clouds,  in  their  varied  display,  are  invested  with  the  sublime  symbolic 
teachings  of  a  God.  God  is  everywhere  present.  The  thunder  and  lightning,  and 
the  brilliant  displays  of  the  aurora  borealis,  are  identified  as  manifestations  of  the 
power  of  God,  who  is  the  great  creative  Spirit.  The  Indian's  ear  is  open  to  his 
teachings  in  every  sound  of  the  forest ;  living  as  he  does  in  the  open  air,  his  eye  is 
familiar  with  the  face  of  the  heavens,  which  are  spread  out  before  him  as  a  vast 
volume  of  pictography,  in  which  he  reads  wonderful  things.  Such  at  least  is  the 
idea  of  the  Indian  of  the  tribes  of  the  United  States,  with  which  we  are  most  familiar. 
He  sees  a  supernatural  power  in  all  those  surrounding  telluric  and  sublime  ethereal 
manifestations.  He  lifts  his  voice  to  him  in  supplication  in  his  native  forests  without 
temples  or  formality,  and  when  ho  offers  a  sacrifice  to  such  a  deity  it  is  not  in  a  roasted 
(juadruped,  such  as  so  often  smokes  on  the  alUir  of  the  other  deities  of  the  uncultured 
man,  but  in  the  light  and  curling  fumes  of  tobacco.  The  Great  Spirit  of  the  Indians 
is  a  purer  deity  than  the  Greeks  or  the  Romans,  with  all  their  refinement,  possessed. 

Good  and  Evil. — That  there  exists  .i  unity  in  this  idea  of  a  great  Spiritual  l'2x- 
istence  who  made  all  things,  upholds  all  things,  and  governs  all  things,  even  to  the 
minutest  destinies  of  men,  is  apparent  to  those  who  closely  scrutinize  this  man  and 
direct  their  attention  to  tlio  object*)  and  sources  of  his  hopes  and  fears.  While  I(K>k- 
ing  directly  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  success  in  life,  and  acknowledging  life  and  death, 
142 


RELIGION  AND  MAQIC. 


143 


fortune  and  misfortune,  as  due  to  his  supreme  power  and  omnipresence,  his  mind  has 
been  strongly  impressed  that  tliere  is  also  an  evil  influence  in  the  world.  To  account 
for  this,  without  impugning  the  benevolence  and  goodness  of  God,  an  antagonistical 
God  is  believed  in,  who  is  the  author  of  evil.  Thus  there  are  two  Gods  created  in 
the  Indian  theology,  all  good  and  benevolent  acts  being  ascribed  to  one,  while  the 
other  is  regarded  as  the  potent  power  of  malignancy.  The  primary  term  for  the 
Deity  is  still  retained  by  the  Indians,  but  they  prefer  to  it  an  epithet  signifying 
"  good"  or  "  bad."  In  this  manner  there  is  created  a  duality  of  Gods,  rather  than  a 
dual  Deity.  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  witness  closely  the  rit«s  and  ceremonies 
which  the  tribes  practise  in  their  sacred  and  ceremonial  societies  without  perceiving 
that  there  is  no  very  accurate  or  uniform  discrimination  between  the  powers  of  the 
two  antagonistic  Deities,  while  the  benignant  power  which  accords  life  and  death  is 
regarded  as  possessing  the  spiritual  mastery. 

It  was  not  enough  for  the  founders  of  the  Indian  religion  to  generalize  the  powers 
of  good  and  evil  by  creating  in  their  theology  two  Gods.  To  enable  these  diverse 
Gods  to  exercise  their  powers  in  a  certain  conceivable  godlike  manner,  each  is  pro- 
vided with  an  innumerable  host  of  minor  gods  or  spirits,  who,  under  the  shape  of 
birds,  beasts,  reptiles,  men,  angels,  demons,  giants,  dwarfs,  sorcerers,  enchanters, 
fairies,  pygmies,  and  other  forms,  inhabit  the  world.  These  are  classified  into  be- 
nign and  malignant  spirits,  or  semi-gods,  agreeably  to  the  Deity  under  whose  influence 
they  are  sent  abroad. 

Minor  Oods  or  Spirits. — An  implicit  believer  in  these  antagonistic  powers, 
nothing  is  too  astonishing,  mysterious,  and  subtile  for  the  Indian  to  believe.  Every- 
thing he  sees  or  hears  in  the  animate  world  may  be  the  subject  of  intense  fear  or 
hope ;  he  is  perpetually  in  doubt  which.  He  is  a  ready  believer  in  transformations, 
possessions,  and  incarnations.  A  deer,  a  bear,  or  a  swift-flying  bird  may  be  the 
messenger  of  good  or  of  evil.  He  is  constantly  on  the  qui  vive,  but  especially  on 
the  lookout  for  something  untoward.  The  movement  of  a  bush  or  the  voice  of  a  wild 
animal  may  be  as  premonitory  a  sign  to  him  as  the  roar  of  Niagara  or  a  clap  of 
thunder.  This  is  not  the  limit  of  his  susceptibility  to  mysterious  fears ;  not  only  is 
he  a  believer  in  the  influences  of  magic,  sorcery,  and  necromancy,  and  constantly  on 
the  watch  through  these  or  other  sources  for  hosts  of  good  or  evil  spirits,  but  all 
these  influences  may  Iw  exhibited  or  excited  through  the  evident  powers  of  invisible 
and  invulnerable  agencies. 

Sometimes  the  Indian  imagines,  as  night  approaches,  that  he  sees  small  spirits 
like  fairies  skip  before  him  over  the  plain  and  suddenly  vanish;  at  other  times  he 
fancies  li.j  sees  them  dancing  in  the  moonlight  on  the  tops  of  cliffs.  One  class  of 
these  aboriginal  fairies,  or  little  vanishing  men  (I'u/c-wud-jin-inie),  are  of  the  land, 
another  are  of  the  water. 

Tlie  most  formidable  and  dreaded  of  the  class  of  demoniacal  terrorists  are  the 
Windegoes,  a  kind  of  giants  or  ogres  who  are  always  cannibals  and  destroy  whole 
fanillies. 

Hut,  however  freciuent  these  several  objects  of  imagination  are  in  the  Indian's 


I      I 


III 


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144 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


lore,  by  *"■"  the  greater  part  of  his  creations  of  fancy  are  the  tutelary  or  guardian 
spirits  Oi  individuals.  These  are  often  encountered  and  made  palpable  to  the  senses 
in  the  shape  of  quadrupeds,  birds,  reptiles,  or  other  organic  forms.  The  Indian's 
dwelling,  or  wigwam,  is  constantly  among  these  wild  animals  of  hoof  and  wing,  and 
in  his  view  they  may  be  either  enchanted  or  unenchanted,  spirits  or  real  animals.  He 
chases  them  by  day,  and  dreams  of  them  by  night.  He  subsists  on  their  flesh.  He 
sells  their  skins  for  European  fabrics.  He  wears  the  feathers  of  the  falcon  tribe  on 
his  head,  he  trims  his  buckskin  hunting-shirt  with  the  rattling  shreds  of  the  deer's 
hoof,  the  claws  of  the  grizzly  bear  adorn  his  neck.  A  dream  or  a  fact  is  alike 
potent  in  the  Indian  mind.  He  is  intimate  with  the  habits,  motions,  and  character 
of  all  animals.  He  feels  himself  peculiarly  connected  at  all  times  with  the  animal 
creation.  By  the  totemic  system  he  identifies  his  personal  and  tribal  history  and 
existence  with  theirs,  and  he  feels  himself  to  be  the  peculiar  favorite  of  the  Great 
Spirit  whenever  they  exist  in  abundance  on  his  hunting-grounds.  And  when  he 
dies,  the  figure  of  the  quadruped,  bird,  or  reptile  which  has  guarded  him  through  life 
is  put  in  hieroglyphics  upon  his  grave-post.  His  medical  system  is  largely  connected 
with  magic.  Believing  in  this,  he  wields  the  influence  which  the  spirits  of  animals 
exercise  over  human  health  and  disease,  for  he  not  only  regards  all  animals,  whether 
in  a  state  of  metamorphosis  or  not,  as  possessing  souls  and  reasoning  faculties  like 
man,  expecting  to  meet  them  in  a  future  state  in  the  Indian  elysium,  but  they  are 
believed  to  possess  a  necromantic  influence  over  this  life. 

When  it  is  considered  that  the  human  mind  under  its  best  phases  was  so  strongly 
fettered  by  this  superstitious  belief  in  witchcraft,  sorcery,  and  magic,  it  cannot  be 
deemed  strange  that  similar  delusions  should  have  been  found  to  prevail  so  univer- 
sally among  the  Indian  tribes  of  this  continent.  And  the  fact  only  serves  more  con- 
clusively to  show  that  the  Indian  mind  Is  of  an  ancient  stock  of  the  human  race,  of 
an  cpocli  when  a  belief  in  magic  and  sorcery  held  undisputed  sway,  and  when  it  was 
distracted  and  disturbed  by  polytheistic  theories  and  wild  dogmas. 

Gods  of  the  Dakotas, — Tah-koo-wah-kfin  is  the  marvellous,  the  mysterious,  the 
incomprehensible  of  the  DakoUis.  It  covers  the  whole  of  the  spirit-world  and  the 
God  manifestsition  to  man. 

Unk-ta-he  is  the  god  of  the  water.  The  DakoUis  say  that  this  god  and  its  asso- 
ciates are  seen  in  their  dreams.  It  is  the  master-spirit  of  all  tiieir  juggling  and 
superstitious  belief.  From  it  the  niediciiK'-mon  obtain  their  su{)ernatural  powers, 
and  a  great  part  of  their  religion  springs  from  this  god. 

Fig.  A,  Plate  31,  representing  the  abode  of  this  god  and  its  a-ssociatts,  is  explained 
thus.  The  inner  circle  represents  the  sea,  and  Fig.  7  the  principal  god.  Figs.  3,  4, 
5,  and  0  are  its  jussociates.  Fig.  2  is  an  Indian.  Fig.  8,  comprehending  the  space 
between  the  two  circles,  is  the  world.  Fig.  1  is  a  river  with  an  Indian  village  on  its 
banks.  Figs.  11  are  doors  through  which  the  gods  go  out  into  the  world.  Figs.  9 
represent  lightning  which  the  associate  gods  use  for  defence.  Figs.  10  are  trees 
growing  in  tiie  w(K)ds  and  on  tlui  bank  of  tiio  river. 

The  Indian  wiio  drew  this  diagram  says  that  Unk-ta-he  came  out  of     le  sea,  and 


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BELiaiON  AND  MAO  JO. 


145 


took  him  from  his  village  on  the  river  in  the  spirit,  before  he  was  born,  and  carried 
him  down  into  the  great  deep.  As  he  passed  by  the  associate  godn,  each  of  them 
gave  him  some  advice,  but  when  he  got  to  the  lust  one,  Fig.  3,  he  received  a  drum, 
and  was  told  that  when  he  struck  it  and  used  the  language  he  had  received  from  the 
gods  of  the  deep,  everything  would  go  as  he  wished.  Afler  receiving  the  last  in- 
Htruction  the  principal  god  of  the  water  put  him  out  on  dry  land,  when  he  was  born 
of  a  woman,  in  flesh  an  Indian. 

The  advice  that  the  Indian  received  from  the  gods  while  in  the  deep  he  refused 
to  tell,  for  it  is  a  part  of  tlieir  great  medicine. 

Fig.  B  represents  the  god  of  the  forest  (Chah-o-ter-dah).  This  god  lives  in  a  tree 
that  grows  on  the  highest  eminences,  and  his  house  (Fig.  13)  is  at  the  foot  of  it. 
When  this  god  wants  anything  he  leaves  his  house  and  sits  on  a  branch  of  the 
tree  (Fig.  12),  which,  they  say,  is  as  smooth  as  glass.  By  his  power  of  attraction 
he  draws  around  him  all  the  birds  of  the  forest,  who  act  as  guards  and  sentinels, 
and  inform  him  when  anything  approaches  liis  residence,  that  he  may  prepare  for 
defence.  This  god  and  the  god  of  thunder  are  mortal  enemies,  and  often  have  severe 
combats,  in  which  the  latter  is  generally  worsted.  When  the  god  of  thunder  comes 
racing  along,  casting  his  lightning  at  the  tree  in  expectation  of  killing  the  god  of  the 
forest,  the  latter,  huving  been  timely  informed  of  his  approach  by  his  faithful  senti- 
nels (Figs.  14,  14),  has  retired  to  the  water  below.  The  god  of  thunder  sends  his 
lightning  after  him  at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  but,  coming  in  contact  with  the  water,  it  is 
lost.  The  god  of  the  forest  then  ascends  the  tree  and  hurln  'lis  lightning  with  such 
skill  and  force  at  the  god  of  thunder  as  to  bring  him  down  a  victim  at  his  feet.  There 
being  a  great  many  gods  of  thunder,  the  killing  of  one  now  and  then  does  not  exter- 
minate them.  The  god  of  the  forest  being  considered  superior  to  the  god  of  thunder, 
the  latter  seldom  attacks  the  former,  but  passes  his  abode  at  a  grciit  distance.  The 
crooked  line  in  the  hand  of  the  god  of  the  forest  (Fig.  12)  is  a  crooked  gun,  by  which 
1h!  can  shoot  in  any  direction  around  tiie  earth.  Fig.  15  is  one  of  the  gods  of  thun- 
der. Fig.  C  represents  the  gods  of  thunder ;  sometimes  they  are  represented  with  a 
hawk's  head.  The  Dakotas  say  that  thunder  is  a  large  bird  flying  through  the  air, 
and  the  noise  we  hear  is  the  flutt«ring  of  the  old  and  young  birds.  The  old  ones 
commence  the  noise,  and  tlie  young  ones  carry  it  on.  The  old  one  is  wise  and  will 
not  injure  the  Indians,  but  the  young  ones  are  foolish  anil  do  all  the  mischief  they 
can.  Thus,  if  an  Indian  is  killed  by  lightning  they  say  the  young  rascals  of  thunder 
did  it.  They  say  that  once  there  was  a  bird  of  thunder  killed  back  of  Little  Crow's 
village,  on  the  Mississippi  Iliver.  It  had  a  face  like  a  man,  with  a  nose  like  an  eagle's 
bill ;  his  body  was  long  and  slender.  Its  wings  had  four  joints  to  each,  which  were 
painted  in  zigzags  to  represent  lightning.  The  back  of  its  head  was  red  and  rough, 
resembling  a  turkey. 

Fig.  D  is  the  god  of  the  grass,  or  god  of  the  weeds  (Whitte-ko-kah-gidi).  The 
projKir  translation  of  this  word  is  "  to  make  crazy."  This  god,  they  say,  is  formed 
from  a  coai"se  kind  of  weed  called  pajee-ko-tah,  which  has  the  i>ower  of  giving  them 
fits  or  making  them  crazy,  and  also  of  giving  them  success  in  hunting.     In  his  right 

I'J 


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146 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUE  UNITED  STATES. 


I 


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liaiul  he  holds  a  rattle  of  deer-hoofs.  There  are  sixty-four  deer-claws  in  this  rattle, 
or,  aa  they  say,  the  deer-claws  of  eight  deer.  In  his  left  hand  he  carries  a  bow  and 
arrow,  and  although  the  arrow  is  made  blunt  by  chewing  it,  still  ho  can  send  it 
through  the  largest  aninuils.  From  his  cap  dart  streaks  of  lightning  so  brilliant  as 
to  dazzle  the  eyes  of  animals,  and  thus  enable  huu  to  approach  close  to  tlicm.  In  his 
mouth  is  a  whistle,  which  is  used  in  the  dance  to  invoke  the  assistance  of  this  god. 
AVhcn  the  Indians  have  bad  luck  in  hunting  they  get  up  a  dance  to  invoke  the 
assistance  of  this  god. 

Fig.  E,  Wa-hun-de-(hin,  or  Aurora  Borealis,  or  Old  Woman,  or  Goddess  of  War. 
The  Dakotas  worship  this  god  under  the  above  names.  When  they  are  about  going 
to  war,  the  war-chief  invokes  this  god,  who  appears  to  him  as  represented  in  Fig.  E, 
and  instructs  hinj  how  to  act,  where  he  will  find  the  enemy,  their  condition,  the  suc- 
cess and  misfbrtunes  that  will  attend  the:  war-party.  The  goddess  is  represented 
with  hoops  on  her  arms,  and  tile-number  oftheee  that  she  throws  on  the  ground  indi- 
cates the  number  of  scali)8  the  party  will  take.  If  the  party  is  to  have  bad  luck,  she 
will  throw  to  the  ground  as  many  broken  arrows  as  there  will  be  warriors  killed 
and  wounded.  The  little  balls  running  out  from  the  cap  (see  Plate)  represent  tufts 
of  down  which  the  Indians  wear  on  the  head  after  having  killed  an  enemy.  The 
liatchet  with  a  fringe  to  it  is  one  which  has  Tiilled  an  endmy.  -Jt-  is  their  custom 
always  to  fasten  a  piece  of  an  animal's  skin  to  any  implements  use^  iii  ■war.  Tlie 
rays  around  ihe  figure  represent  the  aurora  borealis,  which  the  goddess  has  forced 
up  in  honor  of  victory. 

Fig.  F,  Eah,  or  Big-Mouth.  This  is  another  god  that  the  Indians  invoke  to  assist 
them  in  their  wars.  He  is  represented  with  a  big  rattle  in  his  hand.  When  the 
Indians  are  on  a  war-party  the  war-chief  calls  to  his  aid  this  god  and  another  named 
Schun-schun-ah  (Mirage,  or  the  glimmering  of  the  sun),  to  inform  him.  of  the 
whereaboutij  of  the  enemy,  and  they  say  that  he  seldom  fails  to  receive  the  correct 
information.  ir  •.-vi' .' '<•  •  "■  ::■  .•*i--."'if'  ,>^"  ■' 

The  Dakotas  have  many  other  gods.  ^      '  . 

Giant's  Feast  and  Dance. — This  feast  and  dance  is  made  in  honor  of  a  god 
whom  the  Dakotas  call  Ha-o-kah  or  the  Giant,  whom  they  believe  to  possess  super- 
natural powers,  and  to  be  second  only  to  the  Great  Spirit.  The  Dakotas  have  a 
party  or  clan  in  their  tribe  called  the  Giant's  party.  This  clan  believe  in  tlie  exist- 
ence of  this  god,  and  occasionally  give  a  feast  and  dance  in  honor  of  him.  This  is 
performed  by  the  men  only,  within  a  wigwam,  around  a  fire  over  which  are  kettles  of 
meat  boiling.  They  have  no  clothing  excepting  a  conical  cap  made  of  birch  bark, 
streaked  with  paint  to  represent  lightning,  and  some  stripis  of  the  same  material 
around  the  loins.  While  hopping  and  singing  around  the  kettles,  they  will  thrust 
in  their  bare  hands  and  pull  out  the  pieces  of  meat  and  eat  them  while  scalding  hot. 
After  the  meat  is  all  oaten  tlicy  will  splash  the  hot  water  over  their  bare  backs,  all 
the  time  hopjjing  around  ami  singing  out,  "Oh,  how  cold  it  is!"  pretending  that  the 
hot  water  docs  not  scald  them,  and  that  the  god  will  not  allow  any  of  his  clan  to  be 
injured  by  it.     It  is  presumed  that  previous  to  going  to  the  feast  they  prepare  them- 


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RELIGION  AND  MAGIC. 


147 


selves  for  it  by  covering  themselves  with  an  astringent  which  they  obtain  from  a  root. 
This  deadens  the  cuticle,  and  thereby  prevents  the  hot  water  from  injuring  them. 

Immortality. — The  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is  a  distinct  belief  of 
most  of  the  North  American  Indians.  No  one  can  have  been  a  witness  to  their 
funerals,  and  heard  the  address  which  it  is  customary  to  make  to  the  corpse  while  it 
is  lying  dressed  out  ready  for  burial  in  the  best  of  habiliments,  without  being  strongly 
impressed  with  this  idea.  And  the  customs  and  observances  connected  with  its  inter- 
ment on  elevated  dry  ground,  with  the  implements  and  ornaments  of  life,  and  the 
lighting  of  tne  symbolical  funeral  fire  for  several  nights  on  the  grave,  which  is  an 
Algonkin  custom,  appear  to  denote  that  the  soul  i«  believed  to  be  observant  of  the 
respect  paid  to  the  body,  and  that  a  reunion  of  the  two  is  believed  in.  A  very  ancient 
notion  appears  to  reveal  itself  in  the  gift  of  food  that  is  offered  for  some  time  to  the 
dead,  namely,  the  soul's  duality.  It  would  seem  that  they  believed  in  a  sensual  and 
local  soul  OS  distinguished  from  an  ambient  and  absent  spirit. 

Future  State. — The  Indian  is  a  man  who  emphatically  and  positively  relies  on 
the  indications  of  dreams,  which  are  believed  to  be  inspired  by  the  guardian  spirit. 
His  dreams  are  his  revelations.  The  Great  Spirit  is  indeed  still  enthroned  in  his 
mind  as  the  creator  and  pxesider  overihft  universe,  but  he  is  shorn  of  his  power  by 
these  myriads  of  local  gods  and  spirits  who  mediate  bet.veen  him  and  them.  He  is, 
in  fact,  a  negative  being, — negatively  good.  Goodness  and  merc^^  are  the  two  great 
attributes  ascribed  to  him.  They  are  relied  on  by  the  hunter  and  warrior,  through 
the  mediation  of  the  guardian  spirits,  in  every  situation  in  life  and  in  death.  And 
the  savage  dies  with  the  faith  of  his  ancestors  on  his  lips  and  in  his  heart,  believing 
that  all  good  hunters  and  brave  warriors  will  be  received  into  the  Indian  paradise. 
It  is  a  theory  of  the  Indian  that  the  evils  and  trials  of  this  life  are,  as  it  were,  a  merit- 
roll,  compensation,  or  sort  of  expiation  made  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  the  gift  of  life, 
and  its  many  abuses  and  crimes,  of  which  his  conscience  makes  him  sensible,  and 
that  in  a  future  state  men  will  be  admitted  to  an  easier  life.  Hence  death  to  him  is 
not  fraught  with  terrors,  it  is  rather  a  stjvte  full  of  attractions.  Hell  is  a  foreign 
word  to  the  In  Jian  mind  and  language ;  although  :i  compound  word,  Majimonidonong 
(}  lace  of  the  IWl  Spirit),  has  been  coinetl  for  it,  Hence  it  is  that  the  peculiar  doc- 
trines of  ChriHtiauity,  which  vindicate  the  justice  as  well  as  iha  goodness  and  mercy 
of  ( Jod,  are  so  di.stii«teful  and  repulsive  to  the  Indian  mind.  For  ho,  so  far  as  we 
can  ju.lge,  deems  man  justifiable  per  se.  -  '  - 

Indian  Theory  of  the  Deification  of  the  Sun. — The  Oriental  world  held  tlie  same 
views  as  our  aborigines^  on  ths  subject  of  tho  deification  of  animals,  to  whom  offerings 
were  nui<5e.  Nor  was  it  less  united  in  its  ideas  with  regard  to  tlie  mysterious  nature 
of  fire  and  the  sun.  Uoth  these  theories  infatuated  the  American  Indians.  None 
of  the  gfu.eral  customs  of  the  American  tribes  have  so  greatly  changed  us  those  con- 
iieoted  with  the  external  ceremonies  of  the  worship  of  the  sun,  once  go  prevalent 
throughout  the  continent.  The  idea  of  a  trinary  central  seat  of  heat,  light,  and  life 
ill  th(^  sun  was  once  the  general  bolief  of  the  entire  Indian  population  of  America. 
When  Cortez  landed  in  Mexico  tlie  theory  was  there  still  in  vogue,  and  was  recog- 


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,M 


148 


TUE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


nized  by  the  priesthood,  who  annually  renewed  the  sacred  fire,  and  thus  secured  their 
influence,  but  its  vitality  was  sapped  by  a  system  of  horrid  human  sacrifices  to  the 
Mexican  Moloch,  who  was  worshipped  under  the  name  of  Huitzilopochtli. 

In  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  Natchez,  or  Chigantualgas  of  the  Spaniards,  one 
of  the  early  groups  of  tribes,  practised  its  prominent  rites  for  at  least  a  decade  after 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  As  late  as  the  year  1721,  P.  de  Charlevoix, 
the  learned  envoy  sent  by  the  French  Court  to  inspect  the  American  missions,  found 
it  in  existence  among  the  Natchez  occupying  the  present  area  of  the  State  of  Mis- 
sissippi, who  had  a  temple  in  which  the  fire  was  kept  burning,  and  a  regularly  ap- 
pointed priesthood  who  enforced  the  system.  They  received  the  ofieriags,  dedicated 
them  to  the  sun,  and  exacted  the  fees,  or  tenths,  whether  of  birds,  fish,  animals,  or 
other  objects. 

A  rustic  temple  forty  feet  by  twenty,  constructed  of  wood,  without  any  floor,  was 
erected  for  the  worship  of  the  luminary.  In  this  edifice  a  fire  was  kept  perpetually 
burning  by  means  of  three  massive  pieces  of  wood,  which  appointe<l  keepers  watched 
in  turn.  As  in  Mexico  and  Peru,  the  duties  and  powers  of  the  chief  executive  and 
head  ecclesiastic  were  united  in  one  person.  Every  morning  the  Sun-chief  stood  at 
the  door  of  the  temple,  facing  the  east,  and  addressed  the  rising  luminary  thrice, 
after  which  he  prostrated  himself,  and  then  offered  the  incense  of  tobacco  by  smoking 
a  pipe  appiopriated  to  this  occasion,  blowing  the  smoke  first  towards  the  sun,  and 
then  towards  the  cardinal  points,  very  much  after  the  manner  of  the  ceremony 
described  by  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie  as  practised  among  the  Kenistenos  and 
Assiniboines  of  Rainy  Lake  and  Lake  of  the  Woods,  of  the  North. 

The  heads  of  families  never  failed  to  carry  the  first-fruits  of  Ml  they  gathered  to 
the  door  of  the  temple.  The  keener,  having  first  dedicated  th>.  n,  took  them  to  the 
chief,  as  his  prerogative.  Offerings  of  bread  were  also  made  at  every  full  moon,  and 
the  corn  and  other  grains  before  planting  were  first  brought  to  the  temple  f'>r  a  ben- 
ediction. Compare  this  custom  with  the  bloo<l  sprinkled  on  the  planted  corn  in  the 
sacrifice  of  Haxta,  on  the  Missouri,  in  1838. 

It  is  evident  from  the  description  of  Charlevoix  that  the  system  was  then  in  its 
wane,  though  it  had  prevailed  extensively,  and  was  yet  recognized  by  the  Appalachian 
group  of  tribes.  "  The  greatest  part  of  the  nations  of  Louisiana,"  observes  M.  de 
Charlevoix,  "  had  formerly  the  temples  as  well  as  the  Natchez,  and  in  all  these  tem- 
j)le8  a  perpetual  fire  wjis  kept  up.  It  should  seem  that  the  Mobilians  enjoyed  a  sort 
of  primacy  in  religion  over  all  the  other  nations  in  this  part  of  Florida,  for  when  any 
of  the  tires  happened  to  be  extinguished  tlirough  chance  or  negligence  it  was  neces- 
sary to  kindle  tiiem  again  at  theirs.  But  the  temple  of  the  Natchez  is  the  only  one 
existing  at  present,  and  i»  held  in  great  veneration  by  all  the  savages  inhabiting  this 
ist  continent ;  the  decrease  of  whose  numbers  is  as  considerable,  and  htis  been  still 
more  sudden  than  that  of  the  jieople  of  (^'aiiada,  without  it  being  possible  to  assign  a 
true  reason  for  this  result.  Who'e  nations  have  disappeared  within  the  space  of 
forty  years  at  most,  and  those  wlu  still  reriain  are  no  more  than  the  shadow  of  what 
they  were." 


RELIGION  AND  MAOIG. 


149 


Bat  although  the  deification  of  the  sun  had  at  an  early  day  been  a  .cardinal  prin- 
ciple in  the  religion  of  all  the  tribes  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Kennebec,  the 
Penobscot,  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  it  had  sunk  into  secondary  importance,  and  its 
worship  was  only  acknowledged  by  genuflections  long  before  the  extinguishment  of 
its  last  altar-fires  at  Natchez.  Evidences  that  the  system  had  been  diffused  among 
the  Northern  tribes  still  exist  in  their  inartistic  monuments,  as  also  in  their  traditions 
and  pictographs.  The  essential  rites  performed  by  the  Great  Sun-chief  at  Natchez, 
namely,  the  offering  of  tobacco  in  a  State  pipe,  kindled  with  sacred  fire,  were  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  those  practised  at  all  public  and  solemn  assemblies  of  the  tribes 
from  the  era  of  the  primary  European  emigration  to  Virginia  throughout  all  periods 
of  our  history.  No  public  functionary  resident  in  the  Indian  country  has  failed  to 
notice  the  extraordinary  importance  attached  to  these  ceremonies  by  the  Indians. 

Vestiges  of  the  former  prevalence  of  fire-worship  exist  over  immense  spaces,  and 
its  rites  are  found  to  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  aboriginal  religion  throughout  tne 
geographical  area  of  the  Unitetl  States.  In  one  of  the  Indian  traditions  the  preser- 
vation of  a  sacred  fii3  is  carried  to  the  banks  of  Lake  Superior.  Even  over  the 
bleak  latitudes  of  Now  England,  where  the  sparseness  of  the  native  population  did 
not  permit  large  assemblages  to  assist  in  such  rites,  there  is  the  clearest  indication 
that  the  sun  was  worshipped  as  the  direct  symbol  and  visible  presence  of  the  Great 
Spirit.  Cotton  Mather  observes  of  the  Massachusetts  Indians,  "  there  is  with  them 
a  Sun-god  and  a  Moon-god,  and  the  like,  and  they  cannot  conceive  but  that  fire  must 
be  a  kind  of  god,  inasmuch  as  a  spark  of  it  will  soon  produce  very  strange  effects." 


SACKED   FIRE. 

The  sacred  character  of  fire  is  impressed  very  widely  and  deeply  on  the  Indian 
manners  and  customs.  Among  the  Chippewas  of  the  North  there  is  a  custom  to 
light  a  fire  at  night  on  a  newly-made  grave.  This  fire  is  renewed  during  four  nights. 
Fire  in  their  minds  is  regardetl  in  some  manner  as  we  should  view  the  opening  of 
a  door  into  the  spiritual  world.  It  is  l)elieved  that  its  symbolical  light  is  thus 
thrown  on  the  path  of  the  deceasetl  to  guide  its  footsteps  through  its  darkling  way 
to  the  land  of  the  dead. 

That  the  procurement  of  sacred  fire  by  percussion,  the  ceremonies  of  lighting 
the  pipe,  and  the  incineration  of  tobacco  therein,  and  its  being  first  lifted  towards 
the  sun,  prefigured  beliefs  in  the  ancient  fire-worship,  is  more  than  probable.  In  the 
ordinary  use  of  the  wee<l  this  custom  is  doubtless  but  the  indulgence  of  a  favorite 
I)astime.  But  the  moment  a  sacred  use  is  to  be  made  of  the  rite,  fire  for  the  pur|)ose 
is  extracted  from  its  latent  form  in  the  flint.  It  nuist  be  sacretl,  not  common  fire, 
with  which  the  pipe  is  illumined.  It  is  the  duty  of  a  particular  official  to  attend  to 
this  rite  and  to  perform  the  genuflwtions.  A  particular  name  is  Ijcstowed  (m  this 
functionary.  Not  to  observe  tliis  ceremony,  or  to  employ  ordinary  fire  from  embers, 
would  appear  to  have  the  efl'ect  in  their  minds  of  employing  "  strange  fire."  Every 
one  who  has  negotiated  treaties  witli  the  tribes  will  bear  testimony  to  the  existence 


i  i  ; 


in 


!  I  > 


It         '  ^^^ 


150 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


of  this  rite  and  the  solemnity  attached  to  it.  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie  haa  well 
described  it  as  it  existed  among  the  Kenisteno  nation.  Their  medas,  or  priesthood, 
erect  a  particular  lodge,  or  temple  of  offering,  for  the  purpose.  "  The  scene  of  these 
ceremonies  is  in  an  o\icn  enclosure,  on  the  basin  of  a  river  or  lake,  and  in  the  most 
conspicuous  situation,  in  order  that  such  as  are  passing  along  or  travelling  may  be 
induced  to  make  their  offerings.  There  is  also  a  particular  custom  among  them,  that 
on  these  occasions  if  any  of  the  tribe,  or  even  a  stranger,  should  be  passing  by  and 
be  in  real  want  of  anything  that  is  displayed  as  an  offering,  he  has  a  right  to  take 
it,  so  that  he  replaces  it  with  some  article  that  he  can  spare,  though  it  be  of  far  in- 
ferior value ;  but  to  take  or  touch  anything  wantonly  is  considered  as  a  sacrilegious 
act,  and  highly  insulting  to  the  Great  Master  of  Life,  to  use  their  own  expression, 
who  is  the  sacred  object  of  their  devotion. 

"  The  scene  of  private  sacrifice  is  the  lodge  of  the  person  who  performs  it,  which 
is  prepared  for  that  purpose  by  removing  everything  out  of  it,  and  spreading  green 
branches  in  every  part.  The  fire  and  ashes  are  also  taken  away.  A  new  hearth  is 
made  of  fresh  earth,  and  another  fire  is  lighted.  The  owner  of  the  dwelling  remains 
alone  in  it,  and  he  begins  the  ceremony  by  spreading  a  piece  of  new  cloth,  or  a  well- 
dressed  moose-skin,  neatly  painted,  on  which  he  opens  his  medicine-bag  and  exposes 
its  contents,  consisting  of  various  articles.  The  principal  of  them  is  a  kind  of  house- 
hold god,  which  is  a  small  carved  image  about  eight  inches  long.  Its  first  covering 
is  of  down,  over  which  a  piece  of  birch  bark  is  closely  tied,  and  the  whole  is  enveloped 
in  several  folds  of  red  and  blue  cloth.  This  little  figure  is  an  object  of  the  most  pious 
regard.  The  next  article  is  his  war-caji,  which  is  decorated  with  the  feathers  and 
plumes  of  scarce  birds,  beavers'  and  eagles'  claws,  etc.  There  is  also  suspended  from 
it  a  (juiil  or  feather  for  every  enemy  whom  the  owner  of  it  has  slain  in  battle.  The 
remaining  contents  of  the  bag  are  a  j)iece  of  Brazil  tobacco,  soveral  roots  and  simples, 
which  are  in  great  estimation  for  their  medicinal  (lualities,  and  a  pijie.  These  articles 
being  all  exposed,  and  the  stem  resting  upon  two  forks,  as  it  must  not  touch  the 
ground,  the  master  of  the  lodge  sends  for  the  person  he  most  esteems,  who  sits  down 
oj)posite  to  him ;  the  pipe  is  then  filled  and  fixed  to  the  stem.  A  pair  of  wooden 
j)incers  is  provided  to  i)ut  the  fire  in  the  ])ipe,  and  a  double-pointed  pin  to  empty  it 
of  the  remnant  of  tobacco  whicli  is  not  consumed.  This  arrangement  being  made, 
the  men  assemble,  antl  sometimes  the  women  are  allowed  to  be  humble  spectatoix, 
while  the  most  religious  awe  and  solemnity  pervade  the  whole.  The  Mic;hiniwais,  or 
Assistant,  takes  up  the  pipe,  lights  it,  and  presents  it  to  the  officiating  j)erson,  who 
receives  it  standing,  and  holds  it  between  both  his  hands,  llu  then  turns  himself  to 
the  east  anil  draws  a  few  whiffs,  which  he  blows  to  that  point.  The  same  ceremony 
he  observes  to  the  other  three  cpiarters,  with  his  eyes  directed  ujtwards  during  the 
whole  of  it.  He  holds  the  stem  about  the  middle,  i)etwe<  n  the  first  three  fingers  of 
both  hands,  and,  raising  them  upon  a  line  with  his  forehead,  he  swings  it  three  times 
round  from  the  east,  with  the  sun,  when,  after  pointing  and  balancing  it  in  various 
directions,  he  rejwses  it  on  the  [sacred]  forks." 


RELIGION  AND  MAGIC. 


161 


ALGONKIN   BELIEF. 

The  fundamental  points  of  religious  belief  of  the  Algonkin  tribes  are  much  the 
same,  and  resemble  those  of  the  cognate  tribes  of  other  stocks  and  lineage.  They 
believe  that  the  world  was  created  by  a  Supreme  Spirit,  whom  they  call  Monedo,  and 
0/heaud,  the  Maker,  and  who  is  specifically  addressed  under  the  prefix  of  Giizha, 
the  Benevolent  or  Merciful,  and  Gitchi,  the  Great.  To  Monedo  they  assign  some  of 
the  leading  attributes  of  God,  believing  that  he  is  everlasting,  all-powerful,  and  all- 
wise,  and  of  immaculate  and  unchanging  goodness  and  mercy.  In  this  they  agree. 
With  respect  to  ubiquity  and  invisibility  there  is  some  discrepancy.  A  sjiirit,  and 
dwelling  in  the  upper  atmosphere,  or  hhpiming,  yet  whenever  the  arcanum  of  their 
belief  is  reached  they  locate  him  in  the  sun  or  moon  or  indefinite  skies,  or  as  the 
presiding  spirit  of  the  Indian  Elysium. 

In  their  pictorial  scrolls  they  paint  the  sun  as  a  man's  head  surrounded  with  ruys, 
and  appear  to  confound  the  symbol  with  the  substance.  They  attribute  life  and  light, 
vitality  and  intelligence,  the  world  over,  alike  to  Monedo,  and  to  GC'zis,  the  Sun. 
It'isco,  who  visited  the  sun,  as  their  legends  say,  found  it  to  be  a  man,  and  walked  a 
day's  journey  with  him  around  the  exterior  line  or  rim  of  the  globe,  through  the 
periphery  of  which  they  could  look  down,  at  the  sun's  noon-place,  upon  the  inhabitants 
of  the  earth.  Again,  the  Great  Spirit  is  said  to  be  invisible  in  form,  and  to  possess 
ubiquity  in  the  guise  of  symbols,  as  he  is  recognized  in  the  pleasing  or  frowning 
shapes  and  colors  assumed  by  the  revolving  clouds,  the  moaning  tempests,  the  vivid 
lightnings,  and  the  appalling  thunder.  In  these  shapes  he  is  clearly  represented,  not 
in  a  human  shape,  but  by  symbols.  They  api)ly  to  him  also  the  terms  Upholder  of 
the  World,  Miister  of  Life,  and,  as  the  original  author  of  life.  Father. 

HEAVEN. 

Ishpiming,  the  term  employed  by  all  the  missionary  translators  of  the  Lord's 
prayer  for  "heaven,"  means  simply  above,  or  in  the  high  illimitable  space.  It  is  a 
local  phrase  for  abiding  on  high.  But  Ishpiming  is  not  the  fancied  Indian  paradise 
so  often  referred  to  in  their  traditions,  where  the  good  are  tt)  be  rewarded  with  hunt- 
ing-grounds and  the  bad  are  to  sink  in  a  retributive  black  stream.  Whatever  else 
can  be  said  of  the  La.  d  of  the  Blest,  or  the  country  of  souls,  which  is  identical,  its 
locality  is  not  in  the  sky.  We  are  presented  ratlier,  in  the  lively  imagery  with  which 
it  is  painted,  with  a  new  earth,  or  terrene  abode,  which  is  to  be  replete  with  the  afllu- 
eace  of  animal  life,  disporting  its  varied  creations  amid  beautifid  groves,  or  along  the 
banks  of  smootli  streams  and  lakes,  where  tliere  are  no  tempests,  no  pinching  and 
chilling  vicissitudes  of  weather,  and  no  broken  formations  of  rough  mountains,  cata- 
racts, or  volcanoes,  but  where  tiie  avocations  of  life  are  so  sweet  and  varied,  and  so 
completely  exempted  from  the  power  of  llie  Spirit  of  Evil,  that  human  happiness 
is  complete.  Death,  it  is  fancied,  opens  the  door  to  this  sweet  land,  and  death  is 
tluret'ore  viewed  with  eoinplaceiicy.     When  tliis  Indian  paradise  is,  however,  closely 


1 

1 

^<« 

I 

- 

H  ^ 

152 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


scanned,  it  turns  out  to  be  a  gorgeous  and  soft  region  of  shades  and  shadows.  Stream8 
flow  softly,  groves  wave  their  branches  in  gentle  airs,  birds  warble  sweetly,  herds  of 
noble  and  stately  animals  browse  on  the  level  plains ;  but  these  are  all  the  shadows  of 
the  elements  of  the  earth :  it  is,  in  fact,  the  earth  itself  restored  to  its  pristine  beauty, 
with  all  its  classes  of  creation  in  a  state  of  shadowy  metamorphosis.  The  Great 
Monedo  is  indeed  heard  of  there,  but  he  is  not  a  god  of  judgment  or  of  punishment ; 
his  voice  is  exclusively  that  of  a  Father  welcoming  home  his  wandering  children 
from  a  land  of  sufferings,  trials,  and  death. 

It  is  under  this  view  of  his  philosophical  indifference  to  life  and  repose  of  char- 
acter in  death  that  it  is  said  in  "  The  Man  of  Bronze," — 

"  Time  comes  unsighcd  for,  unrcgrettod  flics, 
Pleased  that  ho  lives,  but  happy  that  ho  dies." 


ATTKIBUTES  OF  GOD. 

Of  justice  and  holiness,  as  attributes  of  the  supreme  Indian  Monedo,  the  nar- 
rations are  silent,  unless  they  be  recognized  in  the  typical  form  of  the  stream  to  be 
crossed  prior  to  the  soul's  entry  into  the  realms  of  the  blest.  According  to  their 
funeral  addresses,  the  cpialities  necessary  to  secure  a  safe  passage  across  are  fidelity 
and  success  as  a  hunter  in  providing  for  one's  family  and  bravery  as  a  warrior  in 
defending  the  rights  and  honor  of  his  tribe.  There  is  no  moral  code  regulating  the 
duties  and  reciprocal  intercourse  between  man  and  man. 

Such  views  as  these  would  leave  the  Indian  theology  comparatively  mild,  were 
they  not  united  with  a  general  theory  of  tlie  moral  government  of  the  world  which 
leaves  the  whole  practical  system  of  life  and  death  dark,  wild,  and  visionary  indeed. 
In  the  sense  in  which  the  Indian  God  has  been  exhil)ited  he  is  little  more  than  a 
sublime  abstraction,  depicting  an  image  of  transcendent  power  and  glory,  vast,  un- 
defined, and  unfixed,  lie  is  believed  to  be  the  necessary  and  uncreated  j)rinciple  of 
benevolence  and  goodness.  It  is  therefore  not  necessary  to  propitiate  his  wrath.  lie 
nnist  needs  be  good.  lie  is  not  made  resi)onsible  for  the  right  government  of  the 
world  which  he  Ikus  created  and  upholds.  He  is  no  lawgiver  and  no  judge.  To  lie, 
to  steal,  to  murder,  are  not  offences  against  him  ;  they  may  be  offences  against  man, 
but  must  be  answered  to  man.  To  be  good,  wise,  benevolent,  as  the  Great  Monedo  is, 
appears  to  be  a  duty  of  the  aboriginal  man,  viewing  man  as  the  friend  of  man.  But 
in  the  st^it*;  the  Indian  actually  occupies  he  regards  man  ils  the  enemy  of  man.  He 
docs  wrong,  and  is  the  just  object  of  retaliation.  He  is  wronged,  he  retaliates.  Every 
tie  in  a  good  and  just  .society  is  broken  by  the  sons  of  the  forest.  Who  is  to  be  appealed 
to?  Is  the  Monedo  to  arbitrate  the  cause  in  another  state  of  existence?  Does  he 
hold  out  a  reward  as  an  inducement  to  do  good,  or  a  punishment  to  dissuade  from 
doing  evil?  Xeitlier.  He  stands,  indeed,  on  tlie  high  grounds  of  a  Supreme  Gov- 
ernor of  tlie  World,  but  shrinks  from  his  su|»reine  independent  duties,  and  while  he 
wraps  around  him  the  awful  robes  of  might  and  majesty,  evincing  his  presence  in 
the  glory  of  the  sun,  lifting  up  his  voice  in  lliundi-r,  and  riding,  like  Israel's  God,  on 


RELIGION  AND  MAGIC. 


153 


"  the  wings  of  the  wind,"  he  commita  hia  practical  government  to  demi-gods  and 
sub-creations  of  every  possible  hue,  malignant  and  benign,  who  fill  the  air,  the  earth, 
and  the  water,  and  convert  the  globe  into  a  vast  moral  chaos.  The  class  of  evil 
spirits  range  themselves  under  the  power  of  the  Great  Spirit  of  Evil,  who  is  called 
]\Iudje  Monido, — that  is,  a  bud  spirit.  The  good  spirits  of  every  class  are  believed  to 
be  under  the  chief  spirit  of  good,  but  as  these  are  bound  by  the  principles  of  their 
creation  eternally  to  be  good  and  do  good,  and  cannot  be  evil  or  do  evil,  and  as  the 
Indian  God  do&s  not  prescribe-  their  mission,  nor  even  overrule  them  to  "  bring  good 
out  of  evil,"  but  has  left  all  these  spirits  in  a  state  of  jarring  collision,  the  connc- 
qj'.once  is  that,  judged  by  his  sentiments,  the  unrestrained  evil  spirits  have  the  mas- 
tery and  bear  rule  in  the  world.  To  this  class,  therefore,  the  chief  offerings  are  made. 
The  Indian  who  is  instructed  in  the  lore  of  his  tribe  is  prone  to  recognize  these 
malignant  spirits  on  every  hand,  and  is  kept  in  constant  mental  fear  of  their  power, 
lie  recognizes  them  not  only  in  his  dreams,  and  in  numberless  signs  and  omens 
among  birds  and  beasts,  he  not  only  lypijics  if  he  does  not  identify  them  in  the  whole 
animal  tribes,  but  he  hears  them  talk  in  tempests,  he  sees  them  in  dark  clouds,  they 
beset  him  in  almost  every  possible  angry  sound  which  the  jarring  elements  can 
make,  and  they  crawl  in  the  very  insects  of  curious  shape  that  creep  out  of  the 
earth.  lie  attributes  sickness  and  death  to  the  power  of  these  malignaiit  but  subor- 
dinate gods,  and  there  is  no  temporal  evil  which  they  are  not  supposed  to  bring. 
Fear  is  thus  on  every  hand,  and  the  forest  in  his  migrations  through  it  is  little  else 
than  a  visible  scene  of  audible  but  admonitory  .sounds  and  threatening  signs. 


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PRIESTS    AND    POWWOWS. 

Whatever  other  trait  may  exist  in  the  character  of  the  Indian  tribes,  it  is  religion 
that  is  most  important  to  their  prosperity  and  weli'are.  It  is  on  this  point  that  they 
come  most  prominently  in  conflict  witii  the  axioms  and  practices  of  civilized  nations; 
and,  as  if  conscious  that  the  chief  thing  to  be  guarded  against  was  a  change  in  their 
ancient  religion  or  rites,  as  a  fundamental  interest  on  which  their  fate  nmst  turn,  it 
is  on  this  vital  point  that  they  have  from  the  earliest  era  made  the  most  general, 
resolute,  atid  constant  defence,  for  it  has  been  the  defence  of  the  ancient  priests 
against  Christianity.  Distrustful  of  the  j)0Wir  of  these  tuti'lar  spirits,  or  of  his  own 
fiiitii  in  them,  the  Indian  relies  on  a  class  ')f  diviners  to  whom  it  is  believed  the 
power  and  will  of  God  are  peculiarly  revealed.  These  persons  are  believed  to  be 
more  holy  than  others.  They  pa.ss  nvore  time  in  fasting  in  secret  and  studying  to 
make  themselves  mediums  of  God's  will.  To  j)reserve  their  ancient  religion  intact, 
to  (lefond  its  doctrines  and  promulgate  its  rites,  the  power  of  the  Indian  priest,  pow- 
wow, magician,  soothsayer,  meda,  medicine-man,  wakon-man,  prophet,  or  by  whatever 
other  name  he  may  be  called,  is  brought  constantly  into  requisition.  The  children 
learn  the  rites,  ceremonies,  and  choruses  of  the  sacerdotal  oflice  as  soon  as  they  can 
learn  anything,  and  long  before  they  have  reached  llir  threshold  of  manhood  they 
are  adepts  in  the  Indian  ceremonies  and  beliefs. 

20 


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154 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUB  UNITED  STATES. 


We  must  call  tliis  clnss  of  men  a  priesthood,  because  they  profess  to  administer 
in  holy  or  mysterious  things,  things  that  pass  the  ordinary  comprehension  of  their 
listeners.  Whatever  is  wonderful  in  invention  or  phenomena,  sublime,  incomprehen- 
sible, godlike, — whatever  relates  to  futurity  and  is  unknown, — whatever,  in  short, 
is  connected  with  the  exercise  of  power  for  good  or  evil,  which  is  not  merely  human, 
but  "  spiritual,"  or  rather  such  as  a  spirit  or  demon,  a  monedo,  a  wakon,  or  an  ° 
abainka,  may  exert  on  the  mind  of  man,  leading  it  to  put  forth  powers  not  innate, — 
this  it  is  the  profession,  art,  and  province  of  this  class  of  men  to  do.  Above  all,  the 
Intlians  believe  in  them.  They  believe  that  these  men  have  this  supernatural  power : 
that  they  can  foretell  events,  cure  or  inflict  diseases,  and  influence  life  or  death. 

There  are  three  classes  of  men  in  the  Indian  nations  who  afiiect  to  be  exponents 
of  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit  and  of  the  Evil  Spirit.  They  are,  in  the  order  of 
estimation  in  which  they  are  held — 1,  Jossakeeds ;  2,  Medas ;  3,  Wabenoes.  Each 
of  these  constitute  a  class  or  society  of  themselves.  It  is  not  known  that  one  may 
not  be  a  member  of  either  or  of  all,  if  duly  initiated.  They  are  generally,  however, 
distinct  in  their  powers  and  functions. 


THE  JOSSAKKED. 

The  Jossakeed  is  a  prophet.  He  affects  sanctity  and  a  contempt  of  riches,  goes 
poorly  clad,  retires  to  secret  places  to  commune  with  the  Great  Spirit,  and  builds  a 
high  conical  lodge,  formed  by  stout  poles  wound  about  with  skins,  in  order  to  utter 
his  responses.  He  holds  the  relative  situation  of  the  ancient  oracle.  Unknown 
events,  lost  articles,  the  fate  of  friends,  the  location  of  animals  sought  in  the  chase, 
tlie  coming  of  an  enemy,  and  such  like  topics,  are  put  into  the  shape  of  questions 
asked  of  him  after  he  has  entered  his  prophetic  lodge  anil  announced  his  readiness  to 
give  answers.  If  he  be  a  man  of  shrewdness  of  observation,  and  a  good  knowledge 
of  his  people,  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  the  character  and  causes  of  migration 
of  its  animals  at  each  season,  he  always  shapes  his  replies  with  due  scope  of  oracular 
indcflnitoness  to  secure  respect  and  confidence  and  become  a  person  of  leading  influ- 
ence in  the  tribe.  This  olfice  is  liable  to  become  degraded  into  mere  trickery  and 
jugglery  in  the  hands  of  weak  ami  bad  men. 

THE  MEDA. 

The  Mcda  is  a  magician.  He  is  a  professor  of  the  arts  of  the  Grand  Medicine 
Dance.  He  makes  use  of  various  articles  which  are  supjK)8ed  to  have  the  power  of 
curing  the  sick.  He  exhibits  magical  boncjH,  Htufftul  birds,  skins  of  animals,  and  other 
articles  of  superstitious  awe,  which  are  carefully  kept  in  medicine-sacks.  He  is, 
however,  professedly  a  magician.  The  power  imparted  to  his  medicines  and  charms 
is  ascribed  to  necromancy.  He  sings  while  he  operate,".  He  is,  in  fine,  the  medical 
mountebank  and  juggler  of  the  tribe. 

In  the  society  of  the  Medawiii   the  object  is  to  teach  the  higher  doctrines  of 


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■W?T 


ItKLIGIOK  AND  MAGIC. 


156 


pplritual  oxiHtonce,  ite  nature  and  mode  of  existence,  nnd  the  influence  it  exercises 
iiniong  men.  It  is  an  oHHociation  of  men  who  profess  the  highest  knowU'dge  known 
to  the  tribes.  Meda  is  one  of  those  primitive  forms  of  words  of  wliieli  tlie  meaning 
cnn  Imj  inferred  only  from  its  a])plieution.  It  is  rendered  a  noun  of  nudtitude  by  the 
inflection  win.  The  meda  is  to  be  distinguislied  from  the  Indian  doctor  or  physician. 
Tlie  only  use  lie  makes  of  medicines  is  one  wliolly  connected  with  the  doctrine  of 
magic.     He  is  u  seer  or  sootlisayer,  a  fortune-teller,  a  diviner,  and  a  prophet. 

The  term  specifically  applied  to  the  acts  of  the  last-named  oflice,  is  to  jcmkii  or 
divine.  This  word  becomes  a  substantive  in  jcaukad,yi\\\\c  the  ceremony  is  ^V<m/t««, 
and  the  lodge  \\»e\'i  jomkaun. 

The  oracular  lodge  is  formed  with  eight  stakes,  or  occasionally  only  four ;  the 
stakes  are  two  or  three  inches  thick,  by  twelve,  fifteen,  or  twenty  feet  high,  according 
to  the  feats  of  strength  of  which  the  juggler  thinks  himself  capable.  The  eighth 
stake  is  terminated  by  its  natural  foliage ;  its  summit  has  several  small  branches,  u{)on 
which  are  suspended  the  offerings  to  the  spirits. 

Three  singers,  with  the  drum,  the  Shissigwiin  at  the  Oshkanzhiwiig,  assist  in 
l)reparing  the  lodge ;  they  place  themselves  at  the  north  of  the  lodge.  The  people 
must  not  go  on  the  side  of  the  singers. 

The  singers  bind  the  juggler,  or  jossakeed,  hand  and  foot,  and  push  him  into  the 
lodge,  under  the  skins  which  cover  it ;  being  introduced,  he  demands  of  his  attend- 
ant*! the  pijw,  and  says  to  him  who  jjresents  it,  Sagasweiwen — invite  to  smoke,  where- 
upon the  attendant  calls  the  spirits  of  the  four  cardinal  points. 

To  the  north  he  cries,  Hoho  koko  koko  kisagasweigo — Owl,  thou  art  invited  to 
smoke.     The  people  reply  for  the  Spirit  of  the  North,  ho ! — yes. 

To  the  east,  Menabazh,  menabazh,  kisagasweigo.     The  people  reply,  ho ! — yes. 

The  south,  Menengwa  (butterfly)  kisagasweigo.     The  peo])le  reply,  ho ! — yes. 

The  wt«t,  Animiki  (the  thunder)  kisagasweigo,  etc. 

After  this  invitation  silence  reigns  among  the  jK'ople,  and  they  look  in  the  air  to 
see  the  spirits  come.  The  jugglers  sing,  the  chanters  join  them,  the  lodge  shakes,  a 
noise  and  an  extraordinary  confusion  manifest  themselves;  it  is  the  spirits  who  are 
coming  from  the  four  corners  of  the  horizon — there  are  eight,  a  sacred  number.  The 
turtle  arrives  first  and  retires  last.  She  is  the  babbler,  the  interpreting  spirit,  the 
secretary,  the  speaker  of  the  assembly  of  monedoes.  It  is  through  her  that  the  spirits 
ami  the  jugglers  speak  to  the  people,  and  she  must  be  addreased  to  learn  something 
of  the  juggler  and  of  the  spirits.  Kach  time  that  a  monedo  arrives,  a  heavy  blow  is 
heard  upon  the  ground  like  the  fall  of  something  heavy  on  the  earth,  and  the  lodge 
is  rudely  shaken  by  it.  At  the  first  sound  of  this  kind  the  people  Siiy,  "  Is  it  thou, 
the  turtle,  great  gossip?"  (Kinna  Mishiken?)  (Mikinak,  turtle  in  general;  Mishiken, 
the  turtle  which  keeps  with  the  spirits.)  When  the  spirits  are  assend)led,  the  council 
begins,  and  si)eaking  is  heard  in  the  lodge :  there  is  much  order  in  the  discussion, 
the  spirits  speaking  oidy  one  after  the  other,  but  each  with  a  different  voice. 

At  this  moment  the  people  sit  gazing  at  the  phenomena  before  thenj  in  silent  awe 
and  flxed  and  breathless  expectation.     The  oracular  lodge  is  believed  to  be  filled  with 


156 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STAVES. 


spirits  of  omnipotent  power,  who  have  conio  nt  the  bidding  of  the  chief  prophet,  on 
the  titnioHphcrc,  from  the  reinotcHt  purt»  of  the  earth.  HhalcHpeare,  in  the  convocation 
of  the  witches  in  Macljcth,  couhl  not  have  conceived  more  truly  of  the  organisation 
and  proponed  power  of  tito  daric  upiritM  assenihled  in  the  lodge  iiad  ho  been  on  the 
Hpot  and  Htudied  tiie  whole  Indian  iiiHtitutions.  When  the  joiwakeed  haH  aMHenihied 
all  the  spirits  over  whom  he  claims  jurisdiction,  he  is  ready  to  make  respon8i>s.  The 
theory  is  that  ho  can  send  these  agents  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  continent  in  u  few 
seconds  to  bring  an  answer. 

There  is  no  limihition  to  the  power  of  the  diviner.  The  range  of  his  skill  relates 
to  the  whole  realm  of  the  distant,  unknown,  past,  [)resent,  and  future.  To  give  ex- 
amples :  one  wishes  to  know  the  precise  spot  on  the  bottom  or  shores  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior where  lies  the  body  of  a  person  who  has  been  drowned.  Others  ask  wiiy  the 
tribe  has  been  deprived  of  the  range  of  animals  in  the  chase,  and  where  these  ani- 
mals are  now  to  be  found  in  the  forest— east,  west,  north,  or  south ;  whether  the 
enemy  approaches  their  territory ;  what  the  great  ruler  of  the  white  men  is  now 
thinking  about;  whether  the  keeper  of  the  mysterious  land  of  the  dead  has  allowed 
such  a  j)er8on  to  enter  his  premises ;  where  a  lost  article  is  to  be  found.  In  short, 
there  is  no  limit  to  their  wishes,  wants,  or  desires.  But  this  may  ha  renuirked  of  the 
responses, — that  they  are  usually  couched  in  generalities  or  equivocal  terms. 


MAGIC. 

The  Indian's  character  can  never  be  properly  understood  without  studying  his  arts 
of  sorcery  and  divination.  To  comprehend  the  scope  and  influence;  of  these  among 
the  Indian  tribes,  as  they  are  taught  by  the  prophets  and  mcdos  in  periodical  public 
assemblages  in  the  villages  throughout  the  forest  latitudes,  it  is  necessary  to  have  u 
clear  idea  of  two  things, — namely,  first,  the  Indian  doctrine  of  monedoes  or  spirits, 
and,  second,  the  prophetical  ceremonies  of  divination,  and  the  mysteries  of  the  meda- 
win,  JUS  [)ractiscd  by  the  mcdiis  and  nuigical  doctoi»  of  the  grand  national  society 
devoted  to  my^•tical  arts.  Whatever  the  Indian  cannot  explain,  whatever  appears 
to  hiii>  iaexj)licable,  whatever  is  made  use  of  for  nourishment,  for  health,  for  curing, 
contril.'ios  to  his  sensual  pleasures  and  to  his  prcicrvation,  is  in  his  eyes  a  thing  of 
mysterious  power,  a  spirit, — in  his  language,  a  inonedo.  The  monedoes  relieve  the 
Indian  from  the  neci'ssity  of  induction  and  reflectiui,  of  comjtaring  and  judging;  and 
his  life  c(msists  in  trying  to  do  what  the  monedoes  do,  to  imitate  them,  to  equal  them ; 
and  when  the  prophet  believes  himself  to  have  arrived  at  this  point  he  calls  himself 
monedo,  and  becomes  a  teacher. 


MAOIC   APl'LIKD  TO   WAR. 


In  the  hour  of  danger,  on  the  war-path,  or  on  the  hunt,  the  influence  of  the 
prophet  is  especially  brought  to  bear.  The  Dakota  war-chief  who  heads  an  ex[)edi- 
tion  is  always  one  of  these  medicine-men,  and  is  believed  to  have  the  power  to  guide 


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RKLIGIOX  AND  MAGIC. 


167 


the  party  to  success  or  save  it  from  defeat  through  the  all-powerful  irifluence  of  his 
mediciue.  lie  interprets  the  signs  observed,  such  as  the  flight  of  birds,  the  running 
of  animals,  distant  sounds,  atmospheric  olfects,  etc.,  all  of  which  he  construes  to  influ- 
ence the  movements  of  his  party  as  his  own  whims  may  dictate.  These  spiritual 
operations  are  usually  carrietl  on  at  night  after  the  party  has  encamped;  and  through 
his  mysterious  doings,  and  the  a-ssistance  he  derives  from  the  gods,  he  foretells  what 
will  occur  the  next  day,  the  position  of  the  enemy,  their  strength,  and  the  number  of 
scalps  that  will  be  taken.  In  his  juggling  he  calls  upon  such  gods  for  assistance  as 
have  especial  influence  in  war. 

The  war-chief's  operations  are  thus  described  by  a  Dakota  Indian,  from  whose 
sketch  was  taken  the  drawing  for  the  accompanying  plate.  Fig.  1  is  the  war-chief, 
liolding  in  his  right  hand  a  war-club  shaped  at  tho  end  like  a  hawk's  head.  Fig.  2 
is  his  wigwam  in  which  he  performs  his  spiritual  operations.  Figs.  3  and  4  are  gods 
that  are  invoked  for  assistance  in  war.  These  arc  usually  cut  out  of  birch  bark  and 
stuck  up  on  poles  near  his  wigwam.  Fig.  7  is  the  god  E-yah,  or  IJig-Mouth.  This 
god  is  oiten  represented  with  horns  on  his  head  and  a  rattle  in  his  hand.  He  has 
the  power  of  telling  the  position  of  the  enemy.  Fig.  8  is  the  god  Wa-hun-de-dan 
(interpreted  old  woman,  aurora  borealis,  or  goddess  of  war.)  She  informs  tlie  war- 
chief  not  only  where  the  enemy  is  to  be  fbund,  but  also  of  his  strength  and  the  success 
or  misfortune  that  will  attend  the  party.  She  ev  ii  tells  th:  number  of  scalps  that 
will  be  taken,  and  the  number  of  warriors  that  will  be  killed  or  wounded.  But  the 
most  powerful  influence  the  Indians  bring  to  bear  on  their  war  excursions  is  u  mys- 
tery which  they  call  >Schun-scluin-ah  (Mirage,  or  glimmering  of  the  sun).  This 
is  re[)resented  by  the  small  dots  5  and  (i.  This  is  so  powerfid  that  it  never  fails  to 
inform  the  war-chief  of  the  position  and  strength  of  the  enemy.  Fig.  VI  is  the  war- 
pipe,  the  smoke  of  which  \t.  oflered  to  E-yah  and  to  the  spirits  of  the  enen:y,  which 
tlicy  (h-ead,  and  to  appea.se  which  oflerings  of  different  kinds  an.  made.  Fig.  !)  is  a 
h()i(^  in  the  ground  directly  in  front  of  tn*  vijrwam  (»f  the  chief,  into  which  the  old 
woman.  Fig.  H,  rolls  her  hoops,  as  representatives  of  the  enemy's  spirits.  These  the 
war-chief  kills  by  striking  them  witii  his  war-club.  Fig.  11  is  a  bowl  of  sweetened 
water  sot  before  the  hole  for  the  purpose  of  enticing  the  spirits  into  it.  Figs.  13  and 
It  are  the  lances  of  the  warriors  set  around  the  wigwam  of  the  chief,  and  Figs.  ID 
and  '20  are  sacks  in  which  the  war-implement.s  are  kept.  I  igs.  lo  and  Itl  are  the 
camp-fires  of  those  warriors  who  ha\e  i)efore  Ikvu  on  tiie  war-path,  and  Figs.  17 
and  l.H  are  tiiosc  wlio  iiave  never  beforo  been  to  war.  The  latter  are  not  allowed  lo 
approach  the  war-chief  during  his  spiritual  oj)erations. 

Fig.  'Jl  is  the  enemy's  cr-mp,  and  Figs.  22,  23,  21,  and  25  are  tho  spirits  of  tlie 
enemy,  indicating  the  number  of  scalps  that  will  be  tak.  u. 

Plate  ;{,,  is  another  example  of  Indian  superstition,  representing  the  contest  be- 
tween the  gods  of  the  North  and  South  for  warm  and  cold  weather.  Fig.  1  represents 
the  world.  Fig.  2  is  the  god  of  the  North,  represented  in  a  snow-storm.  He  is  called 
Wa-ze-at-tah  We-chiw-tah.  Fig.  14  is  the  god  of  the  South,  represented  in  a  rain- 
storm.    He  is  called  Eto-kah  \\'e-chas-tah.     Figs.  3  and  4,  representing  wolves,  are 


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158 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


the  soldiers  of  the  northern  god,  who  fight  his  battles.  When  he  wants  cold  weather, 
he  sends  il>rth  these  soldiers  to  battle  witli  the  southern  god.  The  latier  is  assisted  by 
the  crow  and  the  plover,  Figs.  15  and  16.  When  the  battle  begins,  the  wolves  are 
aided  by  a  snow-storm.  A  terrible  conflict  ensues,  in  which  the  southern  god  is 
discomfited,  I'old  weather  prevails,  snow  and  frost  ai)pear,  and  the  world  is  frozen  up. 
As  spring  aj)prGaches,  the  southern  god  desires  warm  weather ;  thereupon  he  sends 
out  his  soldiers,  the  crow  and  plover,  armed  with  war-clubs,  and  assisted  by  a  thunder- 
storm, to  attack  the  wolves.  The  thunder-storm  melts  the  snow  and  ice,  and  the 
crow  and  plover  fall  u])on  the  wolves  with  their  war-clubs,  and  after  a  severe  contest 
succeed  in  beating  them  to  pieces  and  drowning  the  god  of  the  North  in  a  fiood  of 
spray  arising  from  the  melting  of  the  snow  and  ice.  Thus  these  two  gods  will  battle 
for  waru>  and  cold  weather  as  long  as  the  world  shall  stand,  according  to  Indian 
mythology.  Wlien  eitlier  god  goes  out  to  battle,  he  leaves  a  young  god  at  home,  co 
that  if  he  be  defeated  there  shall  be  another  one  left  to  renew  the  ounfiict  at  the  next 
season.  Fig.  8  is  the  northern  god  in  reserve,  with  a  flute  in  one  hand  and  a  rattle 
in  the  other.  Fig.  5  is  his  house,  and  Figs.  G  and  7  are  poles  ornamented  witli 
eagles'  feathers.  Figs.  9  and  10  are  lances,  ready  for  defence.  Figs.  20  and  21  are 
small  hand-rattles,  used  with  the  drums.  Figs.  11  and  12,  to  sound  the  alarm.  Fig.  17 
is  the  southern  god  in  his  wigwam,  and  Figs.  18  and  19  are  ornamciits  similar  to  Figs. 
0  and  7. 

MAGIC  APPLIED  TO   THE  CHASE. 

That  the  Indian's  belief  in  the  magical  power  of  the  meda,  and  the  art  of  the 
mc(I(t-w!iiinci',  or  meda-meii,  should  be  brought  to  i)ear  on  the  business  of  hunting, 
may  naturally  be  inferred.  The  ceremonies  which  the  father  adopts  to  propitiate 
success  the  son  imitates,  and  long  before  he  reaches  manhf)od  he  esteems  these  cere- 
monies of  the  higlii'st  importance.  The  eflicacy  of  the  difiereirt  baits  put  in  traps, 
the  secret  virtues  and  power  of  certain  substances  carried  in  the  medicine-sack  and 
exhibited  in  the  secret  arcanum  of  the  meda's  and  jossakeed's  lodge,  are  (objects  of 
eager  and  earnest  attainment;  and  no  small  \nirt  of  the  time  the  hunter  devotes  to 
ceremonial  ritcw  is  given  up  to  this  mystical  part  of  his  art. 

It  is  believed  tliat  these  secret  and  sacred  objects  of  care  preserved  in  his  skipeta- 
gun  are  endowed  with  virtues  to  attract  animals  in  certain  ranges  of  country  to  which 
they  are  wUhd  by  the  jossakeed.  An  arrow  touclied  by  their  magical  med'  •  in  and 
afterwards  fired  imo  the  tniclc  of  an  anhnal  is  believed  to  arrest  his  course  (*r  other- 
wise alfect  iiiin  until  the  hunter  can  come  up.  A  similar  virtue  is  believed  to  be 
exerted  if  but  the  figure  of  the  animal  sought  be  drawn  on  wood  or  bark  and  after- 
wards sul)Miitte(l  to  the  efficacious  iuHuences  of  the  magic  medicine  and  the  incanta- 
tion. Pictographs  of  sucli  drawings  are  fr<.'(}uently  carried  alxjut  by  the  hunter  i 
avail  himself  (»f  their  influence,  or  of  .iic  means  of  Uromiiig  more  perfect  in  the 
mystical  art  by  intercommunication  with  other  and  distant  Indians.  'J'iiese  figuri's 
are  often  drawn  on  portal)le  objects  of  his  jtroperty,  such  iis  injplements  of  hunting, 
canoes,  utensils,  or  H)\\<  of  hjdge-lnirks,  or  sheathing.      Ho  subtile  is  tiie  infiuence 


tiiite 

L^ere- 

■aps, 

und 

of 

tes  to 

M'tn- 
lirh 
and 

KT- 

bo 
ftcr- 
mta- 

T    I 

tlie 

ruros 

L'lice 


^ 


Q  f 


_y   VI 


'',v  ■ 


'-•>*,«*■  V'->^ 


>v:,-:'i 


^^. 


V       .  ^, 


v . 


\     \ 


/'      /'^ 


\     (    / 


^c>- 


^ 


^,<^- 


•^    : 


■Hi 


m 


i 


■iS 


'  I 


"'—!'   T 


Y 


llKLiaiON  AND  MAGIC. 


159 


exerted  by  the  medawug  or  inii<i;i  deemed  to  be,  that  one  hunter,  it  is  believed,  can 
wield  it  against  another,  and  thus  paralyze  his  exertions,  or  render  his  weapons,  or 
his  skill  in  using  them,  inenicaeiouH, 


MAGIC  APPLIED   TO  THE   HEALING   ART. 

To  exhibit  the  power  of  the  operator,  or  officiating  priest,  in  the  curative  art,  an 
elongated  lodge  is  expressly  erected  with  poles  and  foliage  newly  cut  and  particularly 
prepareil  for  this  purpose.  This  work  is  done  by  assistants  of  the  society,  who  obey 
specific  directions,  but  are  careful  to  exclude  such  species  of  wood  or  shrubbery  as 
may  be  deemed  detrimenttd  to  the  patient.  The  highest  importance  is  attached  to 
this  j)articular,  as  well  as  to  other  minor  points  in  the  shajjc,  position,  or  interior 
arrangements  of  the  lodge;  for  to  discover  any  oversight  of  this  kind  after  the 
ceremony  is  past,  is  a  sufficient  and,  generally,  satisfactory  cause  of  failure.  When 
the  lodge  is  jjrepared,  the  master  of  the  ceremonies,  who  lias  been  applied  to  by  the 
relatives  of  a  sick  person,  proceeds  to  it,  taking  his  drum,  rattles,  and  other  instru- 
ments of  his  art.  lie  is  met  by  other  members  of  the  meda  who  have  been  invited 
to  be  present  and  participate  in  the  rites.  After  they  have  gone  through  some  of  the 
preliminary  ceremonies  and  chanted  some  of  the  songs,  the  patient  is  introduced. 
If  too  weak  to  walk,  he  is  carried  in  on  a  bed  or  pallet,  and  laid  down  in  the 
designated  position.  The  exactness  and  order  which  attend  every  movement  consti- 
tute one  of  its  peculiarities.  No  one  may  enter  who  has  not  been  invited,  but  specta- 
toi"s  are  permitted  to  look  on  from  witliout.  Having  entered  the  arcanum,  and  all 
being  seated,  a  mysterious  silence  is  observed  for  some  time.  Importance  is  attached  to 
tlie  course  of  the  winds,  the  state  of  the  clouds,  and  other  phenomena  of  the  heavens  ; 
lor  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the>se  ceremonies  are  conducted  on  open  elevated  places, 
and  the  lodge  is  built  without  a  roof,  so  that  the  minutest  changes  can  be  observed. 
It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  notice  that  attempts  of  the  medas  to  heal  the  sick  are  only 
made  when  the  patients  have  been  given  over  by,  or  have  failed  to  obtain  relief  from, 
thi'  niuxke-ke-wui-in-ci',  or  physician.  If  success  crown  the  effort,  the  by-standers 
are  ready  to  attribute  it  to  sui)erhuman  power,  and  if  it  fail  there  is  the  less  ground 
to  marvel  at  it,  and  the  friends  are  at  least  satisfied  that  they  have  done  all  in  their 
power;  and  in  this  way  private  affection  is  soothed  and  public  opinion  satisfied. 
(Such  are  the  feelings  that  operate  in  an  Indian  village. 

All  these  rites  and  ceremonies,  with  the  messages  and  responses,  are  executed  with 
great  address  and  cunning.  Tlie  Indians,  who  are  anuised  by  them,  nevertheless  be- 
lieve the  marvellous  things  achii'ved,  and  it  would  be  hazardous  to  attempt  to  di.sabuse 
them.  During  this  ordeal  of  trial  and  trick  the  gifts  psuss  at  each  moment  into  the 
iiands  of  the  singers  and  musicians,  by  whom  they  are  transferred  to  tlie  grand  jossa- 
kced,  who  receives  others  also  from  under  the  lodge.  After  the  ceremony  the  result 
is  that  tlie  jossakeed  and  the  singers  order  a  feiust,  which  has  no  particular  form,  at 
the  expense  of  the  dupes  of  the  day. 

It  is  carefully  to  Ixj  notetl  that  the  power  possessed  by  the  proj>liet  or  jossakeed 


Hr 


i 

1 

;    i 
i 

'i 

:il 

■• 

■ 

\ 

1 

ill 


m 


ill  •J 


!     f 


■I  i 


«i^p 


IGO 


TUB  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


is  pcraonal.  There  is  no  succession  of  the  office.  It  is  a  position  arrived  at  from  tho 
opinion  of  the  tribe  that  he  excels  in  the  knowledge  of  and  power  of  inllucncing  the 
spirit-world.  He  can  call  spirit**  from  the  "  vasty  deep."  There  is  no  limit  to  hia 
knowledge  of  the  mysterious  and  the  supernatural.  He  even  affects  to  call  life  back 
to  the  dead,  anil  by  a  series  of  subtle  tricks  and  concealments  i^ersuades  his  people 
that  miracles  are  within  his  power.  While  he  thus  exercises  the  functions  of  a 
prophet,  he  is  also  a  member  of  the  highest  class  of  the  fraternity  of  the  mediiwin,  a 
society  of  nu'u  who  exercise  the  medical  art  on  the  principles  of  magic  and  incantations. 

To  ac(piire  the  frame  of  mind  and  state  of  purity  deemed  necessary  to  the  exer- 
cise of  both  cla.sses  of  functions,  fasts  and  the  frequent  use  of  the  secret  hot  vapor- 
bath  are  resorted  to.  In  all  ceremonies,  j)rophetical  or  medico-magical,  great  reliance 
is  placed  on  the  vapor-bath.  This  bath  consists  of  a  tight  lodge,  which  is  filled  with 
vapor  by  throwing  water  on  heated  stones.  It  is  entered  with  sacred  feelings,  and  is 
deemed  a  powerful  means  of  purification.  Secret  arts  are  here  often  disclosed  between 
medas  of  h'"h  power,  which  could  not  be  imparted  in  other  places  or  positions, 
believed  to  bo  less  subject  to  the  influence  of  sanctifying  power.  They  are  called 
Madodinwou  ;  their  office  is  a  consecrated  practice,  made  use  of  to  ask  something 
which  is  wished  not  to  be  made  public,  some  private  request.  Vapor-baths  arc  not  a 
matter  of  luxury  or  sensuality  among  the  Indians  of  North  America ;  their  use  be- 
longs to  the  medicine  rite.  They  are  prohibited  to  the  vulgar,  and  are  used  in  conse- 
secrated  cases  only,  and  according  to  prescribed  forms  which  must  not  be  departed 
from. 

The  whole  tendency  of  the  secret  institutions  of  the  Indian  is  to  acquire  power 
through  belief  in  a  multiplicity  of  spirits ;  to  pry  into  futurity  by  this  means,  that  he 
may  provide  against  untoward  events  ;  to  pro])itiate  the  chu<s  of  benign  s])irit8,  that  he 
may  have  success  in  war,  in  hunting,  and  in  the  medical  art;  or,  by  accepUible  sacri- 
fices, incantations,  and  songs  to  the  chuss  of  malignant  spirits,  to  secure  free  scojk;  for 
his  social  intercourse  and  ])ii.ssious.  It  is  to  the  latter  oi)jects  that  the  association  of 
the  Wabeno  is  directed. 

THK   WABKXO. 

The  institution  of  the  Wabeno  among  our  Indians  is  said  to  be  a  modification  of 
the  ceremonies  of  the  Meda.  It  is  stated  by  judicious  persons  among  themselves  to 
be  of  modern  origin.  They  regard  it  as  a  degraded  form  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
Meda,  which,  according  to  I'ott^iwatomie  tradition,  were  introduced  by  the  ^[anitoes 
to  revive  Manabozho  out  of  his  gloom  on  account  of  the  death  of  Chibiabos.  It 
permits  the  introduction  of  a  chiss  of  subjects  which  are  studiously  excluded  from 
the  Meda.  It  is  in  the  orgies  of  this  society  alone  that  the  topic  of  love  is  introduced. 
Songs  of  love  mingle  in  its  mysteries,  and  are  nuide  subjects  of  mnemonic  record. 
The  mysteries  of  this  institution  are  always  conducted  at  night.  IMany  of  the  decc])- 
tions  practised  in  the  exhibition  of  its  arts  derive  their  effect  from  the  presence  of 
tlarkness.  Tricks  1  v  fire  are  of  this  character.  Tiie  sounds  of  its  orgies  are  often 
heard  at  very  late  hours,  and  if  the  sound  of  the  Indian  drum  be  heard  after  mid- 


for 
of 


of 
J  to 
'  the 
toes 
Jt 
roiii 
«'tl. 
•onl. 
t-ep- 
V  of 
)fteii 


nui' 


^^-^f* 


I    : >    •  I    ill 


1 


I-  1.  P- 

;  ■  Si. 


iAi 


^ 


.'«t^ 


Ui 


HKUaiON  AND  MAOIC. 


161 


ni|;ht,  it  may  gcncrully  bo  iuferrcJ  with  ((trtainty  to  proceed  from  the  circle  of  tho 
wiibcnooii.  Tho  term  toabeno  iteolf  is  a  deriviitivc  from  wabun,  tho  morning  light. 
ItH  orgies  are  protracted  till  morning  dawn.  Mcn-of-thc-Dawn  is  a  free  translation 
of  the  term  in  \.\&  ])lural  form. 

The  following  synopsis,  referring  by  figures  to  the  hieroglyphic  devices,  exhibit 
tho  words  of  tho  chants  and  incantations  in  their  simplotit  forms,  togother  with  the 
key-sign  or  ideographic  terms  of  pictorial  notation. 


SYNOPSIS  OP  WABENO  SONGS. 


Chant,  or  Inoantittion. 

Key-Symbol,  or  Ideographic  term  of  Notation. 

1. 

My  lodge  crawls    by   the   wabeno 
power. 

A  lodge  for  nocturnal  dances. 

2. 

Under  the  ground  I  have  taken  him. 

A  man  holding  a  live  snake. 

3. 

I  too  am  a  wabeno. 

The  fifijure  of  a  man  sitting,  crowned  with 

i'  ithers. 

4. 

I  make  the  wabeno  dance. 

A  man  standing  on  half  the  celestial 
hemisphere. 

5. 

The  sky — the  sky  I  sail  upon. 

A  mugic  bone,  decorated  with  feathers. 

6. 

I  am   a  walxjno  spirit — this  is  my 

A  horned  serpent. 

work. 

7.  I  work  with  two  bodies. 

8.  The  owl !  the  owl !  the  black  owl ! 
0.  Ijct  me  hunt  for  it. 

10.  The  burning  flames.  . 

11.  My  little  child,  I  show  you  pity. 

12.  I  turn  round  in  standing. 

13.  Tho  wabeno's  power. 

14.  Wabeno,  let  us  stand. 

15.  I  have  made  it  with  my  back. 

IG.  I  have  made  him  struggle  for  life. 

17.  I  dance  till  daylight. 

18.  Dance  around. 

19.  And  I  too,  my  son. 

20.  He  that  is  a  wabeno  I  fear. 

i 

21.  Your  body  I  make  go. 

22.  I  paint  my  tree  to  the  sky. 


31 


A  hunter  with  a  bow  and  arrow. 

An  owl. 

A  wolf  standing  on  the  sky. 

Flames. 

A  human  figure  with  one  wing. 

A  tree. 

A  female  figure. 

An  artificial  figure  representing  a  spirit. 

A  demoniacal  spirit. 

A  magic  bone  with  wings. 

A  tree  with  human  legs. 

A  magic  bone.  •     ,^ 

A  drum-stick. 

A  man  with  one  horn,  holding  a  drum- 
stick. 

A  headless  man  standing  on  the  sky,  de- 
picted with  a  charmed  heart. 

A  tree  reaching  the  supposed  arc  of  the 
sky. 


1  :!    1 


a 


..    .         TT—J- 


162 


TUB  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Chant,  or  Incantation. 


23.  I  wish  a  son. 

24.  My  wabe-no  sky. 

25.  My  body  is  a  great  wabeno. 

26.  My  son's  bone — ^the  crawling  bone. 

27.  They  will  fly  up,  my  friends. 


28. 
29. 
30. 
31. 
32. 
33. 
34. 
35. 
30. 

37. 
38. 


The  turkey  I  make  use  of. 

7^he  wolfs  skin  I  have. 

There  is  no  spirit — no  wu.beno  spirit. 

Great  wabeno.     I  make  the  wabeno. 

What  spirit,  brother,  do  you  see  ? 

I  At  night  I  come  to  harm  you. 

I  am  sitting  in  the  ca^jt. 

With    my    mr.Ia,   brother,   I    shall 

knock  you  down. 
Run,  wolf!  your  body's  mine. 


Key-Symbol,  or  Ideographio  term  of  Notation. 


A  man,  depicted  with  the  emblems  of 

power. 
A  swaliow-tailed  hawk. 
A  man,  depicted  with  one  arm  and  one 

Lorn  reversed. 
A  nondescript  bird. 
A  human  body,  with  the  head  and  wings 

of  a  bird. 
A  turkey. 
A  wolf. 

A  flying  lizard, 
A  man  with  wings  and  horns, 
A  pipe. 

Symbol  of  the  moon. 

Symbol  of  the  sun. 

A  monger  snake,  or  dragon. 

A  wolf,  depicted  with  a  charmed  heart. 
A  magic  bone. 


It  is  manifest  from  this  examination  that  there  is  no  clue  given  to  the  wordi  of 
the  t  chants  except  that  rei^ulting  from  the  pow<'r  of  aKsociation  of  ideas,  and  that 
the  words  must  have  been  committed  to  memory  before  this  pictorial  record  could  be 
roiul  or  sung.  As  an  aid  to  the  memory  of  the  meda,  or  the  wabeno,  seated  in  a 
large  assemblage,  and  surrounded  with  objects  suited  to  withdraw  his  attention  from 
the  chants  and  weaken  his  verbal  memory,  such  inscrii)tions  must  l)e  of  great  use. 
To  others  besides  the  modas,  jossakeeds,  and  walxnoes  they  nnist  present  only  such 
general  ideographic  information  as  is  denoted  by  the  simple  symbols  or  representative 
signs. 

It  is  not  Qii'iv  to  draw  the  line  between  the  principles  of  the  mala  and  those  of 
the  wabeno.  The  gciieral  objects  of  the  signs  and  chants  are  the  same.  The  sun  is 
einployt'd  here,  as  there,  as  tbi-  symbol  of  the  (Jreat  Spirit.  The  ideas  that  are  enter- 
tained of  this  spirit  an;  f:,  'no  drawn  fr(>m  the  belief  of  the  wabeno  that  lu^  will  exert 
liis  power  tlirniigli  necromancy  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  and  among  the  chusses  of 
;ini.iials  and  l)irds,  tliat  he  will  endow  inanimate  ohjirts  with  ecpial  power,  and,  finally, 
that  he  will  not  favor  the  designs  of  men  when  they  are  not  directed  to  right  and 
virtuous  objects.  Thiw  is  clearly  the  province  iissigned  by  Indian  belief  to  the 
antagonistic  power  of  evil. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

MANNERS    AND    CUSTOMS. 

Influonco  of  Climate — Flora  and  Fauna — Domestic  Animals — Similarity  of  Customs  among  Widely-Sepa- 
rated Tribes — Imitations  and  Changes — Observations  of  Travellers — Vicissitudes  of  Indian  Life — The 
Indian  on  his  Hunting-Grounds — Indian  Family — Domestic  Life — Women — Children — Courtship  and 
Marriage — Polygamy — Totems — Forest  Teachings — Fishing — Hunting — War — Striking  the  Post — 
Feasts  and  Fasts — Medicine  Feast — Sports  and  Pastimes — Discoidal  Stones — Ball-Playing — Games  of 
Chance — Dances — Sugar-Making — Costume — Accoutrements — Characteristic  Traits — Imperturbability 
— Taciturnity — Regard  for  Insanity — Revenge — Superstition — Manito's  Spirit  Craft — Omens,  Dreams, 
etc. — Secret  Societies — Menstrual  Lodge — Human  Sacrifices — Burial-Customs — Mourning — Ossuaries 
— Iroquois  Customs — Creek — Dakota — Ojibway. 

INFLUENCE  OF  CLIMATE. 

Geographical  phenomena,  the  means  of  subsistence,  and  the  natural  history  of 
countries  exert  an  important  influence  on  customs.  Tribes  living  under  the  equator 
or  within  the  tropics  need  little  or  no  dress.  Where  the  banana,  the  yam,  and  other 
tropical  fruits  furnished  the  spontaneous  means  of  subsistence,  only  a  small  amount 
of  labor  was  required.  The  ancient  Caribs,  who  resided  in  a  country  possessing  a 
delicious  cliinate  and  on  a  soil  which  protluced  all  that  was  required  to  support  exist- 
ence, went  almost  entirely  naked,  and  loitered  away  life  in  idleness,  while  the  Atha- 
bascas,  of  the  Arctic  latitudes,  were  comiKilled  to  wrap  their  feet  in  furs,  and  to  rely 
on  the  forests  for  their  entire  supplies  of  animal  and  vegetable  food.  There  were  no 
generic  differences  between  these  tribes,  either  mentally  or  physically.  A  Carib 
transferred  to  the  northern  confines  of  British  America  would  envelop  his  body  in 
warm  clothing,  and  an  Athabascan  who  emigrated  to  St.  Domingo  woulil  throw  away 
liis  elk-skin  coat,  coarse  woollens,  and  moccasins,  and  soon  fall  into  the  effeminate 
manners  of  the  subjects  of  Queen  Anacoana. 

It  is  remarkable  tliat  the  open  sea-coasts  of  America  were  adverse  to  civilization. 
On  the  contrary,  remote  interior  positions  surroi"  'U>d  by  mountains,  as  the  valley 
of  Anahuac,  or  the  basin  of  Titicaca,  favored  the  germs  of  Indian  civilization.  This 
was  not  successfully  developed,  it  is  true,  with-it  bloody  wars,  and  the  effects  of 
extravagant  and  dreadful  superstitions,  leading  to  dynasties  in  which  tlio  liberty  of 
tiie  individual  was  lost.  It  was,  however,  less  these  acts  of  power  than  the  stationary 
habits  of  the  peoph' — thase  habits  that  jK'vmitted  lalwr  to  Imj  applied  in  local  «listricta 
— that  mainly  fostered,  it  is  conceived,  the  true  germs  of  civilization.  The  tendency 
to  a  central  power  wius  also  developed  among  the  Iro(jU()is  at  a  j)oint  remote  from  the 
seaboard,  and  they  were  surrounded  by  hostile  tribes,  against  whom  they  maintaineil 

103 


P 


4 

i 


wmm 


164 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


the  most  bloody  wars.  But  they  were  situated  on  elevated  and  advantageous  table- 
lands, which  poured  their  surplus  waters  down  large  and  prominent  rivers  to  the 
distant  sea.  They  had  likewise  the  element  of  the  zca  maize,  all  of  which,  however, 
might  have  proved  insufficient  for  their  rise  had  they  not  fallen  on  the  policy  of 
tribal  confederation. 

If  the  United  Stiitcs  tribes  be  compared  with  one  another,  there  will  be  found 
numerous  coincidences  of  a  striking  character.  Take  a  Muscogee  from  the  plains 
of  the  Red  River  or  the  Arkansoij,  an  Algonkin  from  the  banks  of  Lake  Superior, 
and  a  Dakotii  or  an  lowi.  from  the  plains  of  the  Missouri  or  the  Mississippi,  and  it 
will  require  an  interpreter  to  make  them  undei-stand  one  other;  but  notice  their 
loading  features  and  expressions,  ascertain  tlieir  thoughts  and  modes  of  action  in  war 
and  in  peace,  their  customs  of  hunting,  war-dances,  and  ceremonials,  endeavor  to 
get  at  the  texture  aad  [)hilo8ophy  of  their  minds,  and  the  coincidences  will  be  found 
so  striking  that  they  nmst  impress  every  beholder  with  the  existence  of  a  character 
sui  generis,  which  nobody  can  mistake. 

"  Not  Hindoo,  Afghan,  Cushito,  or  Parsco  : 
The  ludiun  his  own  prototype  must  bo." 


FLOKA   AND   FAUNA. 

The  flora  of  the  United  States  has  greatly  affected  the  Indian  customs.  When 
the  exploratory  ships  of  Sir  Francis  Drake  first  visited  the  coasts  of  Virginia,  they 
there  procured  the  potato,  which  was  thence  introduced  into  Ireland  and  England. 
The  Powhatanic  tribes,  in  whose  territories  this  valuable  tuber  grew,  had  never 
thought  of  cultivating  it.  The  females  sought  it  in  tl:''  forests,  as  the  Assinilx)ineis 
seek  the  tepia  at  the  i)resont  day  on  the  plains  of  the  Red  River.  When  in  after- 
years  the  same  root  Avas  reintrodiufd  into  this  country  from  Europe,  the  tribes 
began  to  cultivate  it  very  exten  'vely,  ind  the  potato  is  so  easy  of  cultivation  and 
so  productive  that  its  use  haa  been  disseminated  by  them  througiiout  a  wide  lati- 
tude. 

The  customs  of  the  Indians  are,  to  a  great  extent,  founded  on  the  fauna  inhabiting 
their  country,  and  many  of  tiieir  rites  antl  superstitions  take  their  complexion  from 
tiie  objects  of  the  chiise.  The  bison  hiis  ever  been  deemed  by  them  one  of  the  prime 
()l)jects  of  the  hunter's  prowess  and  skill.  Rut  it  is  a  wild  and  untamable  specjes, 
wliich  they  consider  as  one  of  the  j)eculiar  tokens  of  a  kind  Providence  to  them  in 
their  nomadic  state,  and  which  they  regard  only  lus  an  obj»rt  of  the  chase.  In  an 
interview  of  (Jovernor  Stevens  with  one  of  the  prairie  tribes  of  the  buffido  plains  of 
the  North,  he  informed  them  of  the  scheme  of  a  eontemjtlated  railroad  to  the  Pacific 
which  would  intersei-t  their  hunting-grounds.  An  evident  alarm  wtus  produced. 
Adhering  to  the  idea  that  the  herds  of  InittiiKj  were  an  inestimable  boon  to  them,  the 
venerable  chief  said,  "The  CJreat  Father  of  Life,  who  made  us  and  gave  us  these 
lands  to  live  upon,  made  also  the  buffalo  and  other  game  to  afford  us  the  means  of 
life:  his  meat  is  our  food ;  with  his  skin  we  clothe  ourselves  and  build  our  houses; 


n 


iraH 


i 

n1 

i 

!* 

r        ffHl! 

! 

ii 

y 

1 

MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


16S 


he  is  our  only  means  of  life, — ^food,  fuel,*  and  raiment.  I  fear  we  shall  soon  be 
deprived  of  the  buffalo ;  then  starvation  and  cold  will  diminish  our  numbers,  and 
we  shall  all  be  swept  away.  The  buffalo  is  fast  disappearuig.  As  the  white  man 
advances,  our  game  and  our  means  of  life  grow  less,  and  before  many  years  they  will 
all  be  gone."  He  resumed :  "  I  hear  of  a  great  road  to  be  built  through  our  lands. 
We  do  not  know  what  the  object  of  this  is ;  we  cannot  underbtand  it,  but  we  think 
it  will  drive  away  the  buffalo."  The  advance  of  civilization  was  evidently  regarded 
by  these  tribes  not  as  a  blessing  which  was  to  furnish  them  new  means  of  subsistence, 
but  as  a  curse  which  was  to  sweep  them  from  the  earth.  This  is  emphatically  the 
opinion  among  the  hunter  tribes.  They  will  not  even  consent  to  raise  domestic  cattle, 
far  less  wild.    They  abhor  milk  as  the  cup  of  an  enchanter. 

DOUESTIC   ANIMALS. 

The  Spaniards  introduced  the  horse  into  Mexico  in  1519.  In  1538  both  the  horse 
and  the  hog  were  introduced  into  Florida.  A  drove  of  hogs  had  been  driven  through 
Florida  by  De  Soto  to  sustain  his  army  under  possible  exigencies.  Coronado  adopted 
the  same  precaution  in  1541,  by  driving  flocks  of  sheep  into  New  Mexico  under  the 
protection  of  his  army.  Many  of  these  were  taken  by  the  celebrated  seven  tribes  of 
Cibola,  against  whom  he  waged  war  with  the  view  of  compelling  them  to  reveal  the 
location  of  treiisures  of  gold.  Thus  the  Navajoes  and  Moquis  obtained  the  breed  of 
sheep  which  have  so  multiplied  in  tlioir  liands,  whence  have  originated  the  false  and 
extravagant  theories  regarding  their  condition  and  origin. 

The  horse  multiplied  so  rapidly  on  the  plains  and  savannas  of  Mexico  that  all 
the  tribes  of  Indians  east,  west,  and  north  of  that  country  soon  supplied  themselves 
with  this  efficient  auxiliary  to  man  in  his  journeys  and  labor.  The  predatory  tribes 
west  of  the  Missouri  carried  this  animal  with  them  to  the  north,  and  introduced  it 
among  the  Dakotas  and  the  Assiniboines,  whence  it  found  its  way  int)  Oregon 
through  the  passes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  A  singular  and  marked  result  at- 
tciuled  the  possession  of  the  horse  by  the  outgoing  tribes  of  the  Sl'.oshone  stock, 
which  is  indigenous  to  the  broad  range  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  a  barren  region 
abounding  in  rugged  jwaks  and  defiles,  possessing  a  very  limited  flora  and  fauna, 
and  but  few  natural  resources.  These  Indians  are  comjielled  to  live  on  roots  and 
larvae.  Driven  by  the  Pawnees  and  Crows  from  the  open  country  at  the  foot  of 
tlie  mountains,  they  at  times  venture  down  from  their  gorges  to  seek  t»ie  buffalo ; 
but  tliey  have  always  evinced  a  pusillanimous  diameter,  and  have  been  gbnerallv 
pronounced  to  be  the  lowest  and  most  degraded  of  all  the  tribes.  Yet  the  tribes  of 
this  inferior  stock  who  successfully  emigniteil  to  the  plains  of  Texas,  where  they  are 
known  by  tlie  Spanish  name  of  Comanohps,  have  l)een  improved  both  in  spirit  and 
chanicter  by  the  possession  of  the  horse,  and  have  acnpiired  so  much  skill  in  his  man- 
agement that  they  are  regarded  as  the  Arabs  of  the  plains.     Those  portions  of  the 


'0 


'  With  the  dried  excrement  of  thi^  nniiuni,  picked  up  ud  the  bleak  plains,  the  Indian  builds  \m  fire. 


h     3-  ;WT^ 


lOG 


TUB  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Shoshone  stock  who  descended  the  Lewis  or  Snake  River  into  Oregon,  have  also 
progressed  in  the  social  scale  by  the  use  of  the  horse,  whilst  the  tribes  inhabiting 
the  interior  of  California  still  retiiin  their  grovelling  habits,  are  footmen,  and  dwell 
in  caves  and  in  excavations  in  the  earth. 

Nothing  produces  a  more  immediate  effect  upon  the  customs  of  tlie  Indians  than 
the  introduction  of  domestic  animals.  All  the  stock-raising  habits  of  the  Nortli 
American  tribes,  as  developed  in  their  attention  to  the  rearing  of  the  horse,  cow,  hog, 
and  sheep,  date  back  only  to  the  period  of  the  discovery  and  conquest  of  the  country. 
Among  the  tribes  of  the  Great  Lake  basins,  extending  thence  to  the  sources  of  the 
Mississippi  and  to  the  forest  regions  east  of  that  river,  the  canoe  has  supplied  the 
])lace  of  the  horse.  The  same  remark  applies  to  the  country  north  of  latitude  40°. 
In  all  this  part  of  America  hay  must  be  cut  for  the  horse,  and  he  must  be  housed 
during  the  winter.  The  tribes  living  on  the  Atlantic  coasts  at  the  era  of  the  estab- 
ILshmcnt  of  the  colonies  navigated  the  rivers  in  canoes  formed  from  solid  trees  hol- 
lowed out  by  the  alternate  use  of  fire  and  stone  picks.  In  the  latitudes  in  which 
flourished  'he  paper  birch,  sheets  of  the  outer  rind  of  that  tree  spread  over  a  frame- 
work of  ceJar  furnished  the  common  facilities  for  conveyance  and  transportation. 
Yet,  when  the  Shawnees  and  various  other  tribes  of  the  Algonkin  stock  removed 
from  the  north  to  the  interior  latitudes  of  Kansas,  they  abandoned  the  art  of  fabri- 
cating the  bark  canoe,  and  relied  solely  on  liorsos. 


SIMILAKITY   OF   CUSTOMS   OF   WIDELY-SKl'ARATED   TRIBES. 

To  the  evidences  of  the  nientrtl  capacity  of  the  Indians,  their  power  of  computing 
numbers,  iheir  skill  in  arts,  ancient  and  modern,  their  oral  attempts  in  fiction  and 
fancy,  and  their  power  of  pi(;tographic  noUition, — to  these  topics,  which  are  essential 
to  any  philosophical  view  of  the  man,  it  will  be  snflTicient  here  merely  to  allude.  In 
whatever  respect  they  differ,  or  however  one  tribe  or  class  of  tribes  may  excel 
another,  there  is  a  remarkable  agreement  in  their  general  manners  and  customs  and 
opinions,  and  in  their  physical  and  mentul  traits  and  character.  Indians  from  the 
Itio  Grande  del  Norte,  and  from  the  plains  of  Texas,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Min- 
nesota, present  striking  points  of  agreement.  Their  physique  and  their  morale  are 
one.  Peculiarities  of  manners  and  customs,  where  they  exist  in  the  most  striking 
forms,  are  found  to  be  due  in  great  meiusure  to  the  diversities  of  latitude  and  longi- 
tude, the  changes  of  climate,  gcdgraphicul  position,  and  the  natural  products  and 
distinctive  zoology  of  the  country.  Their  modes  of  war  and  worship,  hunting,  and 
amusement'',  were  very  similar.  In  the  sacrifice  of  prisoners  taken  in  war,  in  the 
laws  of  retaliation,  in  the  sacred  character  attached  to  public  transactions  solemnized 
by  smoking  the  i)ipe,  in  the  adoption  of  persons  taken  in  war  into  families,  in  the 
exhibition  of  dances  on  almost  every  occasion  that  can  enlist  human  sympathy,  in 
the  meagre  and  inartHirial  style  of  music,  in  the  totemic  tie  tliat  binds  relationships 
together,  and  in  the  system  of  syinlxds  and  figures  cut  and  marked  on  tlieir  gravo- 
j)ost«,  on  trees,  and  sometimes  on  rocks,  there  is  a  })erfect  identity  of  principles,  arts. 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


167 


and  opinions.  The  mere  act  of  wandering  and  their  petty  warfare  kept  them  in  a 
savage  state,  though  they  had  the  element  of  civilization  with  them  in  the  zea  maize. 
And  when  the  inquiry  is  extended  to  external  customs  and  to  physical  traits,  such  as 
the  color  of  the  skin,  eyes,  and  hair,  and  the  general  stature  and  features,  the  resem- 
blance is  found  to  be  of  a  character  which  may  be  called  continental,  so  that  whoever 
has  seen  one  tribe  may  be  said  to  have  seen  all. 

IMITATIONS  AND  CHANGES  OF  CUSTOMS. 

The  tribes  have  been  much  given  to  imitation  of  one  another's  customs.  Some 
of  the  Iroquois  dances  hav«  been  deemed  very  characteristic  of  that  family,  but  it 
is  found  that  one  of  the  most  noted  of  their  war-dances  has  been  derived  from  the 
Dakotas.  The  Algonkins  of  the  Lukes,  who  are  forest  tribes,  invariably  bury  their 
dead,  while  the  Dakotas,  of  the  plains  of  the  Mississippi,  place  the  remains  of  their 
deceased  friends  and  relatives  on  scaffolds.  It  has  been  observed  that  for  many  years 
pa.st  the  Chippewas  of  Lake  Superior  and  the  Upper  Mississippi,  and  also  the  Sacs 
and  Foxes,  who  anciently  practised  the  same  mode  of  sepulture,  have  adopted  the 
Dakota  custom  of  placing  their  dead  on  scaffolds.  The  dead  are  placed  in  canoes  by 
the  Chinooks  of  the  Pacific  coast. 

While  their  mental  habit;^  are  remarkably  permanent,  many  changes  in  the 
external  customs  of  the  Indian  tribes  are  constantly  occurring,  in  accordance  with 
their  varying  positions  and  circumstances.  Nor  can  it  be  inferred  from  tlie  con- 
stitution of  hunter  society  that  changes  which  are  adopted  on  the  Mississippi,  on 
the  Great  Lakes,  and  on  the  Western  prairies,  may  not  be  found  to  have  previously 
(existed,  under  the  same  circumstances,  among  affdiated  nations  residing  on  the 
banks  of  the  Yenisei,  the  Lena,  and  the  Obi,  where  the  Mongol  and  Tartar  races 
|)rwlonunute.  These  changes,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  have  been  remarkably 
rapid  and  numerous  since  the  materials  for  this  chapter  were  collected,  the  last  three 
decades  having  extended  our  civilization  over  the  hitherto-undisturbed  domain  of  the 
Indian  and  necessitated  a  total  reconstruction  of  his  social  and  political  life.  The 
inevitable  result  will  be  the  abauilijiiment  of  all  his  former  habits  and  a  complete 
conformity  to  those  of  the  white  race. 

OBSEnVATIONS  OF  TRAVELLERS. 

Prior  to  the  American  Revolution  the  Indian  country  had  been  visited  at  long 
intervals  by  travellers,  who  aimed  to  give  more  or  loss  information  of  the  aborigines. 
The  theatre  of  such  observations  had  been  chielly  the  Atlantic  coasts.  The  interior 
had  been  furtively  visited,  and  lo  a  very  limited  extent.  The  Alleghanies  had  not 
been  crossed,  except  by  Indian  traders  for  the  purposes  of  commerce.  The  Great 
Lake  chain  was  chiefly  known  to  readers  from  the  pages  of  the  old  missionary  French 
autlu  rs.  The  Mississippi  had  actually  been  less  explored  than  the  Nile  and  the 
Gangt^fs.     The  Indian  wjis  regarded  as  a  mere  wild  man  of  the  woods,  roving  with 


^ir.( 


'ni 


168 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


nearly  the  same  principles  cf  action  as  the  bears  and  panthers  he  chased,  and  what- 
ever was  wild  and  fierce  in  manners  and  customs,  rites  and  opinions,  it  was  thought 
might  be  attributed  to  him.  There  was,  in  truth,  a  singular  succession  of  prejudiced, 
theoretical,  or  grasping  discoverers  and  travellers  at  early  periods.  It  was  not  the 
age  of  exactitude  in  observation.  The  French  writers  were  prone  to  exalt  the  char- 
acter and  intellect  of  the  Indian ;  the  English  writers  were  as  prone  to  depress  it ; 
the  one  class  was  ever  ready  to  excuse  ferocity,  treachery,  and  ingratitude,  the  other 
to  behold  the  man  as  destitute  of  every  element  of  mental  exaltation ;  one  elevated 
him  to  the  level  of  a  sage  and  a  philosopher,  the  other  depressed  him  to  that  of  a 
brute.  Charlevoix,  one  of  the  most  learned,  benevolent,  and  candid  of  observers, 
remarks  that,  "  with  a  mien  and  appearance  altogether  savage,  and  with  manners  and 
customs  which  favor  the  greatest  barbarity,  the  Indians  enjoy  all  the  advantages  of 
society.  At  first  view,  one  would  imagine  them  without  form  of  government,  law,  or 
subordination,  and  subject  to  the  wildest  caprice ;  nevertheless,  they  rarely  deviate 
from  certain  maxims  or  usages,  founded  on  good  sense  alone,  which  hold  the  place 
of  law  and  supply  in  some  sort  the  want  of  authority.  Keason  alone  is  capable  of 
retaining  them  in  a  kind  of  subordination,  not  the  less  effectual  towards  the  end 
proposed  for  being  entirely  voluntary.  They  manifest  much  stability  in  the  engage- 
ments they  have  solemnly  entered  upon,  particularly  in  affliction,  as  well  as  in  their 
submission  to  what  they  apprehend  to  be  the  appointment  of  Providence ;  in  all  of 
which  they  exhibit  a  nobleness  of  soul  and  constancy  of  mind  at  which  we  rarely 
arrive,  with  all  our  philosophy  and  religion." 

After  the  close  of  the  American  Revolution  the  attention  of  Europe  was  more 
particularly  direct<'d  to  the  aborigines.'  But  the  character  of  the  men  into  whose 
hands  the  task  fell  was  such  as  to  elicit  little  new  information  respecting  them,  while 
these  visits  exposed  the  Republic  and  its  treutment  of  the  tribes  to  a  considerable 
amount  of  obloquy. 


VICISSITUDES   OF    INDIAN    LIFE. 

The  season  of  revelry  and  dissipation  among  the  tribes  is  that  which  follows  the 
termination  of  the  winter  and  spring  hunts.  At  this  time  the  hunter's  hands  are 
filled,  and  he  quits  the  remote  forests  where  he  has  exerted  his  energies  in  the 
chase,  to  visit  the  frontiers  and  exchange  his  skins  and  jieltries  and  sugar  for  goods 
and  merchandise  of  American  or  European  manufacture.     Means  are  thus  enjoyed 

'  Chastcllux,  Vulncy,  and  Clintoaubriiind  viRitcd  thii)  country,  and  wrote  comments  on  it  and  its  abori;;!- 
ncs,  William  Humboldt  placed  liiniself  in  ibc  front  mnk  of  the  pbilologiMs  of  Europe,  but  never  visilvd 
Amerii'a ;  Alexander,  his  distin<;uiHli('d  brother,  devoted  himself  almost  esclugivcljr  to  natural  history  and 
climatic  and  philosophic  ]ihoi!omena,  and  confined  himself  to  the  Southern  hemisphere.  It  does  not  appear 
that  he  wade  inquiries  into  the  character,  langun<^es,  or  condition  of  the  aborigines  of  the  United  Slates. 
Mr.  Ilalket  published  a  severe  review  of  the  treulnicnt  of  Indians  at  the  hands  of  the  Americans  ("  His- 
torical Notes  respecting  the  Indians  of  North  America,"  London,  182.')).  Travellers  of  the  John  Dunn 
Hunter  or  Psalmunazar  school  continued  to  pour  out  their  vapid  descriptions  and  illdigestcd  theories  to  a  lute 
period.     Mr.  Oeorjre  Catlin,  in  his  Letters,  gives  a  spirited  view  of  hunting-scenes. 


hat- 
iight 
iced, 
b  tho 
shar- 
» it; 
jther 
grated 
.  of  a 
rvera, 
s  and 
;efl  of 
iw,  or 
eviate 
place 
bleof 
e  end 
igage- 
i  their 
all  of 
rarely 

1  more 

whose 

while 

erable 


W8  the 
Ids  are 
|in  the 
goods 
ijoyed 

J  aborigi- 
Ir  visited 
tory  and 
It  appear 
Sutes. 
("  His- 
■n  Dunn 
Ito  a  late 


I      |! 


1    ...::  I         ) .  >  M 


•'-•  If! 


MANNEllS  AM)   CUSTOMS. 


169 


wliicli  ho  cannot  as  well  conimiind  at  any  other  season.  But,  above  all,  this  is  the 
portion  oF  the  year  when  the  hunting  of  animals  inust  be  Uiseontinueil.  It  is  the 
season  of  reproduction.  Skins  and  furs  are  now  out  of  sciuson,  and  if  bought  would 
coniniaiul  no  price.  Nature  herself  provides  for  this  repose:  th(!  \)ii\i  is  bad  and  parts 
from  the  skin.  Uy  the  first  of  June,  throughout  all  the  latitudes  north  of  42°,  tiie 
forests  arc  deserted,  and  the  various  bands  of  hunters  are  found  to  be  assembled  round 
th(!  frontier  forts  and  towns,  or  dispersed  along  tiie  shores  of  the  lakes  and  rivers  in 
their  vicinity.  It  is  th»,'  natural  carnival  of  the  tribes.  The  young  amuse  themselves 
in  sports,  ball-phiying,  and  tlances.  The  old  take  counsel  on  their  affairs.  The 
mi'das,  the  wabcnocs,  and  tiie  jossakeeds  exert  their  skill.  It  is  the  8eas(m  for  feasts  ; 
all  hearts  are  disposed  to  rejoice.  As  long  as  means  last,  the  round  of  visits  and 
feasting  is  kept  up.  IJy  a  people  who  are  hal>itually  j)rone  to  forget  the  past  and  are 
unmindful  of  the  future,  the  cares  and  hardships  of  the  hunter's  life  are  no  longer 
thought  of.  The  warmth  and  mildness  of  the  sea-son  form  a  jMiwerful  incentive  to 
these  jwriodical  indulgences  ;  dissipation  is  added  to  sloth,  and  riot  to  indulgence.  Ho 
completely  absorbing  are  these  objects,  so  fully  do  they  harmonize  with  tlu;  feelings, 
wishes,  theology,  and  philoso]diy  of  the  Indian  mind,  that  tiie  hours  of  summer  may 
be  said  to  slip  away  uni)erceived,  and  the  Indian  is  awakened  from  his  imaginary 
trance  at  the  opening  of  autumn  by  the  stern  calls  of  want  and  hunger.  He  now 
sees  that  he  must  again  rouse  himself  for  the  cha.se,  or  starve.  He  must  prepare  once 
more  to  plunge  into  the  reces.ses  of  the  forest,  or  submit  to  the  penury  and  degrada- 
tion which  his  continuance  within  the  settlements  will  entail.  The  tempests  of 
autumn,  which  begin  to  wiiisth;  around  his  summer  wigwam,  are  no  surer  tokens  of 
tlie  ice  and  snows  which  will  Idock  up  his  j)ath  than  is  the  failure  of  all  his  means 
a  sign  that  it  is  only  by  renewed  exertion,  and  a  manly  resort  to  his  gun  and  traj),  his 
arrow  and  spear,  that  Ik;  can  replace  them.  Such  is  the  round  of  vicissitudes  of  the 
Indian's  life.  He  labors  during  the  fall  and  winter  that  he  may  enjoy  the  sjuiiig  and 
Slimmer.  He  accumulates  nothing  but  his  experience,  and  this  tells  him  that  life  is  a 
round  of  severe  trials,  and  that  he  is  soonest  happy  who  is  first  relieved  of  it.  He  has 
no  religion  to  inform  him  of  the  rejilities  of  a  state  of  futurity,  ami  the  conseijuence 
is  that  he  is  early  wearied  of  this  round  of  severe  vicissitudes,  and  is  absolutely  glad 
when  the  hour  of  death  arrives. 

The  failure  of  wild  animals  has  in  some  instances  led  the  Indians  to  resort  to  the 
planting  of  corn  as  a  safeguard  against  want,  but  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  success 
of  agricultural  life  among  them  has  hitherto  been  a  haughty  si)irit  of  jiride  and 
the  un<iualified  laziness  of  the  men  and  boys,  who  will  not  work.  The  men  hunt  a 
little  in  summer,  go  to  war,  kill  an  enemy,  dance,  lounge,  sleep,  and  smoke.  The 
women  do  everything, — nurse,  chop  wood  and  carry  it  on  their  backs  from  a  half  to 
a  whole  mile,  hoe  the  ground  for  jilanting,  plant,  hoe  the  corn,  gather  wild  fruit, 
carry  the  lodge,  and  in  winter  cut  and  carry  the  poles  to  ])itch  it  with,  clear  off  the 
snow,  etc. ;  and  the  men  often  sit  and  look  on. 


ti  1 


'S|l 

■'44 


> 


i  ^M 


•"^rymm 


170 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


THE   INDIAN  ON   1II8  UUNTINO-O HOUNDS. 

The  sociul  state  of  the  Iiuliuns,  however,  when  viewed  l>y  the  eye  of  unpreju- 
diced candor  and  benevolence,  ia  far  from  being  as  revolting  as  it  has  HometiniCB  been 
represented.  In  situations  where  they  have  good  means  of  hunting,  trapping,  and 
iishing,  and  where  the  j)re88ure  of  the  expanding  scttl(;ments  and  frontier  views  of 
an  antagonistic  race  do  not  strongly  and  immediately  press  on  them,  their  simplo 
institutions  of  the  forests  insure  them  means  of  social  enjoyment  on  which,  in  their 
condition  of  hunters,  they  set  a  high  value. 

When  the  season  of  hunting  returns,  and  they  have  reached  their  wintering- 
grounds  and  placed  a  wide  margin  between  the  frontier  towns  and  themselves,  the 
tense,  cautious  reserve  and  suspicion  of  harm  which  marked  them  while  in  the  set- 
tlements tralRcking  off  their  furs,  and  gliding  with  easy  steps  through  the  mazes 
of  civilized  society,  are  relaxed.  The  savage  softens  into  something  like  assurance 
to  find  himself  again  surrounded  exclusively  by  his  own  people,  and  he  sinks  back 
to  the  natural  state  of  the  Indian  sociability,  and  it  is  seldom  that  the  most  prudent 
and  reilecting  elders  do  so  without  recounting  t\w  scaths  and  losses  that  they  have 
encountered  on  the  frontiers.  The  conflicts  of  the  savage  and  civilized  state  are, 
indeed,  in  a  moral  sense,  terrible.  The  Indian  .  has  parted  with  the  avails  of  his 
last  year's  hunts,  and  received  his  exchanges  on  such  terms  as  he  had  not  the  means 
of  prescribing,  and  generally  feels  under  obligations  to  those  who  have  transacted 
his  commercial  mattei's,  and  who  are  his  most  symi)athizing  white  friends ;  but  ho 
feds,  under  the  best  state  of  things,  as  if  he  had  been  plundered.  If  his  family  and 
himself  have  complet  !y  escaped  the  perils  of  debauchery  and  other  frontier  vices,  ho 
is  happy  ;  it  is  more  than  he  can  generally  expect ;  and  his  best  resolve  for  the  futuro 
seems  to  be  that  another  season  he  will  stay  a  shorter  time  about  the  towns,  and  try 
to  come  l)ack  with  less  cause  of  reproach  to  himself.  The  circle  of  wild  foresters  to 
whom  he  has  again  returned  look  up  to  him  with  the  utmost  respect  and  trust.  They 
hang  upon  his  words  as  the  maxims  of  wisdom.  lie  counsels  and  feasts  them,  and 
is  regarded  as  their  oracle  and  guide. 

In  this  periodical  reunion  of  aboriginal  society  the  most  perfect  sincerity  and 
cheerfulness  prevail,  and  their  intercourse  is  marked  with  the  broadest  prin(!iple8  of 
charity  and  neighborly  feeling.  The  constraint  and  ever-watchful  suspicion  which 
they  evince  at  the  post  on  the  lines,  or  in  other  situations  exposed  to  the  scrutiny  and 
cupidity  of  white  men,  are  thrown  aside,  and  give  way  to  ease,  sociability,  and 
pleasantry.  They  feel  a  security  unknown  to  them  in  any  other  situation.  The 
strife  seems  to  be  who  shall  excel  in  oflices  of  friendship  or  charity,  or  in  spreading 
the  festive  board. 

If  one  is  more  fortunate  than  the  other  in  taking  fish  with  net  or  spear,  or  in 
killing  a  deer  or  any  ether  animal,  the  spoil  is  set  aside  for  a  feast,  to  which  all  the 
adults  without  distinction  are  invited.  When  tlie  tiuK;  arrives,  each  one,  according 
to  ancient  custom,  takes  his  dish  and  spoon,  and  pnuceds  to  the  entertainer's  lodge. 


MANiXKllS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


171 


The  victuals  arc  Bcrvod  up  with  Hcrupulous  attention  that  eacli  rccoivcs  a  portion  of 
the  beHt  piirtH  according  to  his  standing  and  rank  in  tiiu  village.  While  at  the  meal, 
which  is  j)rolonged  by  cheerful  coiu  erHation,  anecdotes,  and  little  narratives  of  per- 
sonal adventure,  the  feinah-H  are  generally  among  the  listeners,  and  no  female  except 
the  aged  ever  obtrudes  u  remark.  The  young  women  and  girls  sliow  that  tliey  par- 
take in  the  festivity  by  smiles,  and  are  urcful  to  evince  their  attention  to  the  cUlvr 
part  of  the  company.  Conversation  is  chiefly  engrossed  by  the  old  men,  chiefs,  and 
middle-aged  men.  Young  men  who  are  desirous  of  actpiiring  a  standing  seldom 
otter  a  remark  ;  and  when  they  do,  it  is  with  modesty. 

The  topics  discussed  at  these  public  meals  relate  generally  to  the  chase,  to  the 
news  they  have  heard,  to  personal  occurrences  about  the  camp  or  village,  or  to  deeds, 
real  or  fabulous,  of  "  uuld  lung  syne."  But  these  matters  are  discussed  in  a  lively 
style.  Business,  if  we  may  be  allowed  that  term  for  what  concerns  their  trade  and 
intercourse  with  white  men,  is  never  introduced  except  in  formal  councils  specially 
convened  and  opened  by  smoking  the  pipe.  It  seems  to  bo  the  drifl  and  object 
of  conversation  in  these  sober  festivities  (for  it  must  be  recollected  that  we  are  speak- 
ing of  the  Indians  on  their  wi uteri ng-gounds,  and  beyond  the  reach,  certainly  beyond 
the  free  or  ordinary  use,  of  whiskey)  to  extract  from  their  hunts  and  adventures 
whatever  will  admit  of  a  pleasing  turn  or  joke,  or  excite  a  laugh.  Ridiculous  mis- 
adventures or  comical  situations  are  sure  to  be  applauded  in  the  recital.  Whatever 
is  anti-social  or  untoward  is  piussed  over,  or,  if  referred  to  by  one  of  the  company, 
is  ])arried  by  some  allusion  to  the  scenes  before  them.  Religion,  like  business,  is 
reserved  for  its  proi)er  occasion.  It  does  not,  as  with  us,  form  a  free  topic  of  renuirk, 
at  least  among  those  who  are  connected  with  their  medicine  societies,  or  who  enter- 
tain a  proper  veneration  for  what  the  Indians  call  "  the  Master  of  life."  When  the 
feast  is  over,  the  women  retire  to  their  lodges  and  leave  the  men  to  smoke. 


liil-? 


},'f,| 


CONSTITUTION    OF   TIIK    INDIAX    FAMILY. 

One  of  the  most  striking,  universal,  and  permanent  customs  which  distinguish  the 
Anu^rican  tribes,  and  the  one  which  most  of  all  commends  them  to  our  humanities, 
is  that  which  exists  in  connection  with  the  family  tie.  It  is  this  trait,  indeed,  that 
deprives  barbarism  of  half  its  repulsiveness,  and  gives  to  this  erratic  and  benighted 
branch  of  the  species  their  strongest  claims  to  our  sympathies  and  benevolence. 

Ages  of  waiulering  and  privation  incident  to  savage  life  have  done  little  to  shake 
the  laws  of  consanguinity.  The  marital  rite  is  nothing  more  among  our  tril)es  than 
the  j)ersonal  consent  of  the  parties,  without  any  concurrent  act  of  a  priesthood,  a 
magistracy,  or  witnesses;  the  tie  is  assumed  by  the  parties  without  the  necessity 
of  any  extranecms  sanction  except  that  of  parental  consent ;  presents  are,  however, 
often  made,  if  the  parties  be  able.  It  is  also  disannulled,  and  the  wife  dismissed 
from  the  wigwam,  whenever  the  husband  plesixes,  or  the  marital  state  is  continued 
under  the  evils  of  discord  or  in  a  state  of  polygamy ;  the  latter  is,  however,  the 
usual  method  among  the  hunter  and  j)rairie  tril»es.     But  the  ties  of  consanguinity  are 


I       I      I  VIP«I        III 


172 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


still  strictly  acknowledged ;  children  become  possessed  of  all  their  natural  rights,  and 
family  tradition  traces  these  ties  to  their  remotest  links.  No  savage  tribes  on  tho 
face  of  the  earth,  so  far  as  geographical  discovery  extends,  are  more  tenacious  of  their 
relationships.  No  earthly  calamity  causes  such  deep  grief  to  them  as  the  loss  of  a 
jiromising  son  at  his  entrance  into  life.  Instances  have  been  known  where  the  father 
has  redeemed  his  son  from  the  stake  by  giving  himself  up  to  be  burnt  in  his  stead. 

A  notable  insbince  of  this  kind  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  war  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  between  the  Chippewa?  and  the  Foxes,  after  the  latter  had  allied 
tlu'iusclvcs  in  the  Wist  to  the  i:^ioux.  In  this  war  the  Foxes  captured  the  son  of  a 
(clebrated  and  aged  chief  of  the  Chippewas,  named  lil-am-wah,  while  the  father 
was  absent  from  his  wigwam.  On  i  ■  aching  hi^;  home  the  old  man  heard  the  heart- 
rending news,  and,  knowing  what  the  fate  of  his  son  would  be,  he  followed  on  the 
trail  of  the  enemy  alone,  and  reached  the  Fox  village  while  they  were  in  the  act  of 
kindling  the  fire  to  roast  him  alive.  He  stepped  boldly  into  the  arena  and  offered  to 
take  his  son's  j)lace.  "  My  son,"  said  he,  "  has  seen  but  a  few  winters ;  his  feet  have 
never  trod  the  war-path;  but  the  hairs  of  my  head  are  white ;  I  have  hung  many 
scalps  over  the  graves  of  my  relatives  which  I  have  taken  from  the  heads  of  your 
warriors;  kindle  the  lire  about  me,  and  send  my  son  home  to  my  lodge."  The  offer 
wiLS  accepted,  and  the  old  man,  without  deigning  to  utter  a  groan,  was  burnt  at  the 
stake.  8uch  are  the  severities  of  savage  warfare,  amidst  which  the  family  tie  is 
maintained  with  a  heroism  which  has  no  parallel  in  civilized  life. 

But  whatever  were  the  plans  of  separation  which  the  original  families  and  clans 
adopti'd  to  preserve  the  lineage,  they  are  all  found  to  have  distinct  and  appropriate 
iianies  for  the  different  degrees  of  relationship.  In  one  respect  these  names  have  u 
pcculiariiy  •  they  denote  by  their  orthography  whether  the  person  be  an  elder  or 
younger  brother  or  sister,  an  aunt  by  the  father's  or  the  mother's  side,  or  some  other 
like  distinctions,  which  appear  to  have  their  origin  in  the  very  transitive  nature  of 
tlif  language. 


UOMIiSTIO   Liii:. 

It  has  often  been  a  question  how  order  is  obtained  in  so  confined  a  space  as  an 
Indian  wigwam,  where  so  many  persons  seem  to  the  looker-on  to  be  huddled  together 
in  confusion.  The  wife  of  the  hunter  ha.s  the  entire  control  of  the  wigwam  and  all 
its  temporalities.  To  each  person  who  is  a  member  of  the  lodge-family  is  assigned 
a  lixed  seat,  or  Iialiitnal  abiding-place,  which  is  called  ii//hinnn.  To  the  master  and 
mistress  of  the  lodge  belongs  the  chief  location.  To  each  of  the  adult  and  grown 
chihlren  is  also  assigned  his  or  her  particular  abbiui  The  very  infant  scmn  learns 
to  know  its  place,  and  hastens  to  the  mother's  abbinos.  Indeed,  the  term  for  a  child 
— nhhinnjtr — appears  to  be  derived  from  this  radix;  the  termination  ojcr,  which  is 
iiffixe<l  to  it,  is  a  diminutive  word  of  endearment, — as  we  observe  in  their  term  for  a 
fly,  irn-ir(CI)r<fiin-)>jrr,  etc. 

If  ihe  son  is  married  and  brings  his  bride  home  (one  of  the  commonest  modes 
of  assembling  the  lodgt-circle),  the  mother  assigns  thi!  bride  her  al)binos.     This  is 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


173 


prepared  by  spreading  one  of  the  finest  skins  for  her  seat,  and  no  other  person  except 
her  husband  ever  i,ita  there.  A  visitor  who  is  a  neighbor  is  wek'omed  to  the  liighest 
seat  temporarily.  Inmates  of  the  lodge  have  their  bed,  mokuk,  wallet,  etc.,  placed 
behind  their  own  abbinos,  and  generally  war-clubs  and  arms,  if  the  individual  be  a 
warrior,  are  placetl  within  reafJi.  In  this  manner  the  personal  rights  of  each  inmate 
are  guarded.  The  feini»,le  is  punctilious  as  to  her  own,  so  that  perfect  order  is  main- 
tained ;  and  it  would  be  ius  much  a  violation  of  their  eticpiette  for  an  inmate  to  take 
possession  of  another's  abbinos  at  night  as  it  would  be,  in  civilized  lifi%  to  intrude 
into  a  private  bed-chanilwr.  IJy  these  known  rules  of  the  wigwam  an  Indian's 
notions  of  propriety  are  satisfied,  while  to  the  European  stranger  who  casually  lifts 
up  the  lodge  door  (a  bit  of  cloth  or  skin)  and  peeps  in,  its  interior  appears  to  be  ap- 
j)ropriated  with  as  indiscriminate  a  "  communism"  as  if  it  were  occupied  by  so  many 
j)igs,  sheep,  or  bears. 

The  division  of  labor  between  the  man  and  wife  in  Indian  life  is  not  so  unequal 
wldle  they  live  iu  the  pure  hunter  state  as  many  suppose.  The  large  proportion 
of  the  hunter's  time  spent  in  seeking  game  leaves  the  wife  in  the  wigwam  with  a  great 
deal  of  time  on  her  bands.  Tlu're  is  no  spinning,  weaving,  or  preparing  children 
for  school,  no  butter-  or  (fheese-making,  nor  any  of  a  thousand  other  cares  which  are 
inseparable  from  the  agricultural  state,  to  occupy  her  skill  and  industry.  Even  the 
iirt  of  the  seamstress  is  practised  by  the  Indian  woman  on  a  few  things  only.  She 
devotes  much  of  her  time  to  making  moccasins  and  quill-work.  Her  husband's 
leggings  are  cjirefully  ornamented  with  beads.  His  shot-pouch  and  knife-sheath  are 
worked  with  quills.  The  hunting-cap  is  garnished  with  ri!)b()ns.  His  garters  of 
dotli  are  adorned  with  a  profusion  of  small  white  beads,  and  colored  worsted  tassels 
are  prepared  for  his  leggings. 

The  present  state  of  the  Indian  trade  renders  it  more  thrifty  for  the  hunter  to 
purchase  his  coat,  shirt,  aziaun,  and  leggings  of  cloth,  and  employ  his  time  in  hunt- 
ing the  small  furred  animals  to  pay  for  them,  and  this  relieves  the  female  in  a  great 
mcib'ure  from  the  dressing  of  skins,  which  wjus  fi)rnierly  quite  a  labor. 

The  labors  of  the  Inisband  ant!  wife  among  the  Dakotas  are  not  equally  dividetl. 
Take  the  year  round,  it  is  probably  f<tr  n  month  or  two  in  the  winter  that  the  men 
arc  most  busy  ;  it  is  in  tiie  midst  of  the  winter  hunts.  The  women  often  upbraid 
one  another  for  their  cowardice,  and  think  it  right  for  their  husbands  to  defend 
tlieir  country  and  family.  The  men  make  all  the  arms  and  implements  of  war,  and 
the  women  are  not  allowed  to  touch  them  or  t-ven  go  near  them,  particularly  during 
the  catamenial  perioils.  Men  and  Avomen  make  canoes,  patldles,  cradles,  bowls,  and 
spoons.  The  women  plant  and  hoe  the  corn,  and  gather  it.  The  men  sometimes 
help  to  husk  the  corn.  The  women  make  mats,  pull  rushes,  gather  wild  rice,  cut 
the  wood,  carry  tiie  lodge,  cut  the  gra.'^s,  cook,  prejmre  the  skins  and  furs  for  market, 
dress  tlie  skins,  make  moccasins  and  mend  them,  niend  and  make  clothing,  dig 
roots,  dress  meat,  pound  and  make  pemniican.  In  the  summer  a  man  does  not  work 
more  than  one  hour  in  the  day.  Through  the  summer  the  women  labor  about  six 
hours  {HT  day.     In  winter  tlie  men  will  average  about  six  hours  a  day,  and  the 


I'i    r 


* 


■    \ 


i 


i'l 


^^f^F^mffm 


174 


THiJ  INDIAN  TRIBES  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


women  about  ten  hours  per  day.  In  the  spring  the  corn-field  is  planted  by  her 
and  the  youngsters  in  a  vein  of  gayety  and  frolic.  It  is  done  in  a  few  hours,  and 
taken  care  of  in  the  same  spirit.  It  is  perfectly  voluntary  labor,  and  she  would  not 
be  scolded  for  omitting  it ;  for  all  labor  with  Indians  is  voluntary. 

The  character  of  the  man  in  domestic  life  has  some  redeeming  traits.  His  expe- 
rience of  hardship  and  suffering  appears  to  have  made  him  forbearing.  He  is  not 
easily  vexed,  but  is  almost  habitually  passive.  He  does  not  scold  old  or  young.  The 
spirit  of  enilurance,  self-respect,  and  a  species  of  forest  stoicism  have  given  him  a 
philosophy  far  above  it.  When  he  returns  from  the  chase  with  a  load  of  meat,  and 
throws  it  down  at  the  door  of  the  wigwam,  not  a  word  is  said  to  the  wife ;  or  if  but 
a  tongue  of  the  animal  killed  be  brought  to  testify  to  his  success,  he  is  nearly  as 
taciturn.  She  comprehends  at  once  her  part  of  the  duty  in  both  cases,  and,  what- 
ever that  duty  is,  he  never  alludes  to  it.  He  is  not  a  fault-finder  at  his  meals,  but 
eats  whatever  is  placed  before  him. 

Roasting  and  boiling  are  simple  operations  with  the  Indians.  There  is  no  condi- 
ment to  be  used, — no  salt,  no  j)epper.  Soups  are  their  great  resource,  particulaily  in 
seasons  of  want,  or  where  the  food  will  not  admit  of  division  by  any  other  method. 
A  squirrel  or  a  small  bird  will  answer  to  season  or  qualify  a  gallon  of  soup.  In 
times  of  great  straits  a  few  old  bones  will  serve  to  flavor  the  liquor,  and  the  ingenuity 
of  the  wife  is  constantly  on  the  stretch  to  jirovide  a  meal.  When  there  is  absolutely 
notliing,  and  the  severities  of  the  season  have  for  a  time  cut  off  every  resource,  there 
is  a  dignified  endurance  in  the  Indian's  mind  that  rises  above  complaint.  There  is 
no  one  to  blame,  in  his  belief,  unless  it  be  the  Great  Spirit;  and  he  is  far  from  im- 
puting blame  to  Him.  He  has  exerted  his  art,  but  without  success.  The  next  day 
may  bring  him  relief,  and  he  console's  himself  with  this  hope.  The  children  are 
sometimes  put  to  sleep  by  telling  them  tales  to  stop  their  crying  for  hunger.  If  there 
be  but  a  morsel  in  the  wigwam,  it  is  given  to  them,  and  the  father  shows  the  strength 
of  his  affection  and  the  quality  of  his  endurance  by  rigid  abstinence  from  food  and 
by  uncomplaining  silence.  He  indulges  himself  in  the  use  of  the  pipe  and  native 
weed,  or  kinnikinnick,  which  is  attended  with  some  sort  of  stimulus  to  the  nerves 
that  keeps  them  in  a  state  of  etpiilibrium. 


WOMAN. 


Without  woman  the  savage  state  would  be  demoniacal.  Intrusted  by  nature 
with  certain  instinctive  principles  of  truth,  education  and  relinement  prepare  her  for 
the  noblest  ends,  but  even  in  the  savage?  state  her  benign  infiuence  is  not  lost.  The 
savage,  when  he  returns  from  war  or  hunting,  is  fiitigued  by  over-exertion,  and  lie 
comes  back  to  his  wigwam  to  find  repose.  The  first  objects  that  greet  his  eye  in  the 
lodge  are  his  wife  and  ehildren.  This  is  plesu^ing  to  his  iieart;  the  very  sight  of  babes 
who  are  too  feeble  to  walk  or  talk  well  soothes  iiis  mind,  and  turns  it  away  from 
ideas  of  cruelty  and  blood.  It  is  not  customary  to  indulge  in  warm  greetings.  The 
pride  and  stoicism  of  the  hunter  and  warrior  forbid  it.     The  pride  of  the  wife,  who 


r  her 
,  and 

[  not 

!xpe- 
9  not 
The 
im  a 
,  and 
P  but 
ly  as 
i^hat- 
i,  but 

ondi- 
:ly  in 
thod. 
,  In 
nuity 
utely 
there 
jre  is 
n  im- 
t  day 
n  are 
there 
pngth 
[1  and 
lative 
lerves 


lature 

or  tor 

The 

id  lie 

in  tlu> 

babes 

from 

Tlie 

',  who 


■^-•-!^P 


MANNERS  AND    CUSTOMS. 


175 


hiis  been  made  the  creature  of  rough  endurance,  also  forljids  it.  But,  though  her 
lips  are  silent,  she  is  busy.  She  hands  her  husban<l  1  '..i  smoking  apparatus.  She 
gives  hiin  clean  and  dry  moccasins.  She  puts  on  her  little  pot,  with  its  forest  viands 
and  his  wild  rice,  and  by  the  time  he  has  fully  recollected  himself,  according  to 
Indian  notions,  and  done  justice  to  his  philosophical  sense  of  taciturnity  and  imper- 
turbability, the  bark  onajon  (dish)  is  set  before  him,  and  he  is  made  to  feel  that 
there  is  at  least  one  person  whose  hand  is  not  against  him. 

A  very  striking  instance  of  devotion  in  a  daughter  for  an  aged  father  occurred 
in  the  vicinity  of  Michilimackinac.  Gitchy  Naigow  {Anglke,  Great  Sand  Dune) 
wius  a  Chippewa  chief,  who  during  a  long  life  maintained  a  rei)utation  for  bravery, 
vigorous  exertion,  and  policy  in  Indian  life,  in  the  region  of  the  Upper  Lakes.  lie 
was  a  warm  friend  of  the  French  during  their  supremacy  in  the  Canadas,  and  an 
actor  in  the  scenes  of  p'>ril  that  preceded  and  followed  the  fall  of  Quebec,  in  1751). 
lie  had  been  one  of  the  lu^sailants  at  the  memorable  capture  of  old  Fort  Michilimack- 
inac, in  1703,  and  is  mentioned  by  the  name  of  Le  Grand  Sable  as  one  of  the  most 
sanguinary  actors  on  that  occasion.  He  lived  many  years  afterwards,  shifting  his 
tent,  as  the  seasons  changed,  from  the  open  shores  of  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan  to 
the  thick  woods  whicrh  are  the  shelter  of  the  natives  from  the  wintry  winds.  Eighty 
yeai"s  and  upwards  had  now  whitened  the  locks  of  the  aged  chief,  and  he  felt  that  his 
continuance  in  these  scenes  nuist  be  short,  when  he  accompanied  his  relatives  for  the 
last  time,  during  the  month  of  March,  from  the  borders  of  the  water  to  those  forests 
which  yield  the  sugar-maple.  This  is  a  season  of  enjoyment  with  the  Indians,  ami 
they  usually  remain  at  their  sugar-camps  until  the  sap  assumes  too  much  acidity  to 
he  longer  capable  of  being  made  into  syrup,  and  the  trees  begin  to  jnit  forth  leaves. 
In  tlu!  mean  time,  the  days  of  the  enfeebled  patriarch  who  had  pitched  his  tent  in  a 
liundred  forests  approached  their  close.  It  was  found  thai  when  they  had  packed 
up  their  effects  to  return  co  the  open  lake  he  was  unable  to  sustain  the  journey.  Ilis 
daughter,  Nodowiujua,  the  wife  of  Saganash,  determined  to  carry  him  on  her  shoul- 
ders, that  he  might  for  the  hust  time  be  permitteil  to  witness  those  refreshing  shores. 
I'or  this  purpose,  as  soon  lus  the  carriers  were  ready  to  move,  she  took  her  long  and 
stout  deer-skin  apekun,  or  head-strap,  and,  fastening  it  around  his  body,  bent  herself 
sinMigly  forward  under  the  load,  then  rose  under  the  pious  burden,  and  took  the  path 
for  the  lake.  It  is  usual  to  put  d(jwn  the  burdens  at  set  places,  and  to  proceed  by 
rests  (»n  ihi'ir  way.  These  she  obeyed,  and  brought  her  father  safely  to  the  open 
shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  The  distance  was  about  ten  miles.  ISlv.  Schoolcraft 
obtaiiu'd  the.se  particulars  from  the  woman  herself  at  Michilimackinac  in  1831?, 
wlieii  she  was  aged.  The  feat  of  J'lneas  in  carrying  Anchises,  when  infirm,  on  his 
slKudders  through  the  Hanies  of  Troy,  has  long  l)een  celebrateil,  but  is  rivalled  here 
by  that  of  an  Algnnkin  woman.  I*(Htiy  has  emlialmed  the  one  act,  let  history  do 
liie  same  for  the  other. 


'% 


»■! 


!  \'- 


^'*'  :?■ 


176 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUE  UNITED  STATES. 


BIETU   AND   ITS  INCIDENTS. 

Parturition,  with  the  Iiuliun  female,  is  seldom  attended  with  severe  or  long-con- 
tinued suffering ;  it  is  generally  very  much  to  the  contrary,  and  leads  to  but  a  slight 
interruption  of  her  onlinary  pursuits.  It  is  the  simple  result  in  obstetrics  of  the 
continued  exercise  in  the  ojxjn  air  of  the  Indian  woman,  and  her  consequent  hardi- 
hood. A  few  hours  on  a  journey  in  the  forest  is  often  the  whole  time  required  for 
the  confinement,  and  there  api)ears  in  most  cases  to  be  but  little  if  any  premonition. 
A  Avife  has  been  known  to  sally  into  the  adjoining  forest  in  quest  of  dry  limbs  for 
firewood,  and  to  return  to  the  wigwam  with  her  ncAV-born  child  placed  carefully  on 
the  back-load.  Their  exemption  from  the  usual  sufferings  of  child-birth  may  be 
said  to  be  tlie  general  condition  of  the  hunter  state,  and  one  of  the  few  advantages 
of  it  which  the  female  enjoys  above  her  civilized  sister. 

Names  are  generally  bestowed  by  the  mtndcmoia,  or  nocomiss,  of  the  family : 
that  is,  by  the  matron  or  the  aged  grandmother,  Avho  generally  connects  the  event 
with  some  dream.  If  the  child  be  a  male,  the  name  is  generally  taken  from  some 
object  or  phenomenon  in  the  visible  heavens.  The  returning  cloud  (kewanoquol), 
the  sun  in  contact  with  a  cloud  (kc-tche-tosh) ,  the  bright  cloud  [na-gcczhig),  the  little 
thundcrer  {an-nc-ma-kens) ,  a  bird  in  continued  flight  in  the  higher  air  {ka-ga-osh) , 
are  common  names.  If  it  be  a  female,  the  imagery  is  generally  drawn  from  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  the  vegetable  kingdom,  or  the  waters.  The  woman  of  the  pass- 
ing stream,  the  woman  of  the  green  valley,  the  woman  of  the  rock,  are  not  uncommon 
names.  The  flexible  charactf-r  of  the  language  renders  these  compound  terms  prac- 
ticable. There  is  no  rite  of  any  kind  analogous  to  baptism,  nor  a  thought  of  it;  but 
the  name  thus  given  is  considered  secret;  it  is,  indeed,  deemed  sacred,  for  it  is  not 
generally  revealed,  and  it  is  one  of  the  hardest  things  to  induce  an  Indian  to  tell  his 
real  niinie.  Inste^id  of  this,  and  in  order,  it  would  siH;m,  the  better  to  conceal  it,  men 
are  culled  by  some  common  nickname,  an  little  fox,  wolf,  red-head,  bad  lK>y,  bird,  and 
such  like  sobriijuet*,  which  are  generally  given  by  the  mothers  to  infants  as  terms 
of  endearment.*  It  is  these  secondary  names,  which  continue  to  be  borne  in  adult 
life,  that  we  constantly  hear,  and  the  real  name  is  studiously  concealed,  and  frequently 
not  even  revealed  by  the  ojcilatig,  or  grave-post ;  for  ujwn  this  the  totem  of  the 
family  is  deemed  to  be  sufHcient.  The  true  c^iuse  of  the  concealment  of  names  must 
be  ascribed  to  their  religious  and  superstitious  dogmas.  Among  the  Inxiuois,  after 
the  birth  of  the  child  a  name  was  selected  by  its  mother  from  tliose  not  in  use 
behmging  to  the  tribe,  witii  the  concurrence  of  tiie  chief  and  near  relations.  It  was 
then   bestowed  upon  the  infant,  and  its  name,  with  that  of  tiie  father  and  mother, 


'  The  pcrfi'ct  identity  cif  npiniini  ciitcrtiiinoil  on  tliis  Huhjeet  by  tlie  Indians  of  tli«  present  day  with 
that  held  hy  the  Vir;,'iniii  Indians  in  1584  is  sliuwn  in  the  double  name  of  I'oeahontas.  "  Her  true  name," 
Hiiys  I'urehas,  "  was  Matokes,  whieli  they  eoneealed  from  the  Kiijilish  in  a  superstitious  fear  of  hurt  by  the 
KnL'li-h  if  lier  name  was  known." — I'i/i/riins,  Part  V.,  Hook  VIII.  Chap.  V. 


pp-' 

H 

i 

r  I 

i 

V 

1       1 

'"Si 

iiii 


il.lVtn 


ip 


MANNEIIS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


177 


wiw  announced  at  the  next  ensuing  council  of  the  tribe.  One  class  of  names  was 
adapted  to  children,  and  another  to  adults,  which  were  exchanged  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen or  sixteen,  in  a  formal  manner.  When  a  chief  was  elected,  his  name  was  "  taken 
away,"  as  they  expressed  it,  and  a  new  one  given  in  its  j)Iace. 

Ciiildren  are  immediately  after  their  birth  tied  with  feminine  care  on  a  flat  piece 
of  carved  wood,  called  tikk'magon,  wliich  has  a  small  hoop  to  protect  the  head,  and 
a  little  foot-piece  to  rest  on.  Moss  is  placed  between  the  heels  of  female  infants,  which 
maivcs  them  in-toed;  in  males  the  adjustment  of  the  moss  is  designed  to  produce  a 
perfectly  straight  position  of  the  foot.  The  "  one-point"  blanket  of  trade  wraps  it, 
and  a  bandage  of  cloth,  if  the  mother  be  able  to  get  it,  is  bound  around  the  whole 
person,  giving  it  some  resemblance  to  a  small  mummy.  It  is  the  pride  of  the  mother 
to  garnish  this  cradle-band  with  ribbons  and  beads.  From  the  hoop  some  little 
jingling  ornament  is  generally  suspended,  to  attract  the  child's  notice.  An  apekun, 
or  carrying-strap,  is  securely  fastened  near  the  head  of  the  infant,  by  which  the 
mother  can  swing  it  to  her  back  and  carry  it  without  injury  throughout  the  forest. 
Indeed,  she  can  hang  it  up  by  the  strap  on  the  limb  of  a  tree  or  in  the  lodge,  and  the 
fixtures  are  so  ingeniously  contrived  that  even  if  it  falls  down  the  child  cannot  be 
hurt.  In  this  confinement,  during  which  the  child  rarely  if  ever  cries,  it  learns  its 
first  lesson  in  endurance.  The  management  of  children  is  left  mostly  to  women.  A 
male  child  is  not  whipped  as  much  as  a  female.  Some  women  think  it  wrong  to 
strike  a  boy  at  all. 

COURTSHIP   AND   MARRIAGE. 

Among  the  Dakotas,  courtships  can  be  carried  on  at  almost  any  time,  owing  to 
tlu'ir  being  huddled  together,  and  constantly  meeting  one  another  about  the  lodges. 
Some  make  their  visits  regularly  to  the  lodge ;  othei*s  do  not ;  and  some  nuiy  not  visit 
the  lodge  at  all,  or  may  never  have  spoken  to  the  woman,  and  the  first  thing  she  knows 
she  is  bought.  Both  sexes  adorn  themselves.  Red  is  the  color  most  used.  The 
young  men  play  on  tlie  chotunkah,  or  flute.  If  they  make  presents,  it  is  of  little 
aiii'sunt.  Finger-rings  or  ear-rings  are  about  the  amount  of  presents  to  girls.  Con- 
sent is  a.sked  by  sending  the  price  of  the  girl.  If  accepted,  the  girl  is  sent ;  if  not, 
tlie  goods  are  faithfully  returned.  The  goods  have  been  known  to  be  returned 
because  there  was  no  powder-horn. 

There  are  many  matcnes  made  by  elopement,  much  to  the  chagrin  of  the  parents. 
They  marry  at  the  age  of  from  ten  to  twenty.  The  men  have  a  little  more  respect 
for  the  women  and  themselves  than  to  live  a  single  life.  The  young  only  are  addicted 
to  dress.  Widowers  and  widows  generally  remarry.  They  have  a  marriage  cere- 
mony, or  form  of  marriage,  which  is  considered  lawful  and  binding.  The  j)arents  or 
relations  are  the  only  persons  consulted.  Tiie  ceremony  is  outside  the  lodge.  The 
mother-ill-law  has  sometliing  to  say  in  the  choice,  and  that  is  about  all.  The  bride 
is  received  in  the  open  air,  and  with  some  pomp  and  ceremony.  The  dress  for  the 
bride  is  as  costly  as  can  be  obtained. 

Polygamy  is  the  cause  of  nnich  misery  and  trouble  among  them.     The  women, 

23 


■i 


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?n 


i  iil 


irli 


!  ;i 


t' 


Si'  i 


"1 


'•^\ 


178 


Till)  IS'DIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


most  of  thciu,  abhor  the  j)ractic'e,  but  are  overruled  by  tlio  men.  Some  of  the 
wouien  coiumit  Huicule  on  this  account.  Some  of  the  Htepmothers  are  kind ;  Home 
are  very  bad ;  and  the  chikhen  are  treated  accordingly.  Their  wives — or  dogH, 
as  Home  of  tiie  IndiiuiH  term  them — are  well  treated  an  long  aa  they  let  the  men  have 
their  own  way,  and  do  all  the  work  except  hunting.  Tlie  man  has  an  many  wives  a.s 
lie  want.s,  antl  if  one  of  them  remonntrateH  against  this,  she  will  probably  be  beaten. 
The  men  do  not  otlen  interfere  with  the  work  of  the  women ;  neither  will  they  helj) 
them,  if  they  can  avoid  it,  for  fear  of  being  laughed  at  and  called  women. 

As  children  increase,  the  jjarents  appear  to  be  more  affectionate;  but  then  this 
friendship  is  often  broken  up  by  the  husband  taking  a  second  or  even  a  third  wife. 
At  the  age  of  forty,  fifty,  and  even  sixty  years  we  see  some  of  the  Indians  seeking  to 
get  a  new  wife.  In  the  case  of  plurality  of  wives,  the  strongest  and  most  vicious  one 
is  mistress  of  the  lodge.  The  Indian  is  generally  sedate  and  dignilied.  The  women 
are  as  fond  of  ilress  as  any  other  people  in  the  world,  and  put  on  all  the  finery  tlu^y 
can  get, — silver  brooches,  wampum,  ribbons,  or  blankets  of  fine  cloth.  A  wonnin's 
dress  has  been  seen  that  was  all  covered  witii  large  and  small  brooches,  and  instances 
have  been  known  of  garnished  blankets  and  leggings  which  cost  probably  two  hun- 
dred dollars.  Where  there  is  a  plurality  of  wives,  if  '  c  gets  finer  goods  than  the 
others,  there  is  sure  to  be  some  (juarrelling  among  the  women ;  and  if  one  or  two  of 
them  are  not  driven  off,  it  is  because  the  others  have  not  strength  enough  to  do  so. 
The  man  sits  and  looks  on,  and  lets  the  women  fight  it  out.  If  the  one  he  loves 
most  is  driven  off,  he  will  go  and  stay  with  her,  and  leave  the  othei-s  to  shifl  for 
themselves  awhile,  until  they  can  behave  better,  as  he  says. 


TOTKMS. 

There  is  a  peculiar  form  of  jierpetuating  the  social  bond  through  a  reliance  on 
spirits,  which  is  revealed  in  the  system  of  totems,  IJy  totemic  marks  the  various 
families  of  a  tribe  denote  their  alliliati(jn.  A  guardian  si)irit  has  been  selected  by  the 
])rogenitor  of  a  family  from  some  object  in  the  zoological  chain.  The  rej)resentativ(! 
device  of  this  is  called  the  totem.  Indians  are  proud  of  their  totems,  and  are  prone 
to  surround  them  with  allusions  to  bravery,  strength,  Uilent,  j)ower  of  endurance,  or 
other  qualities.  A  warrior's  totem  never  wants  honors  in  their  reminiscences,  and 
the  mark  is  put  on  his  grave-post,  or  ndjrdnt!//,  when  he  is  dead.  In  his  funerciil 
pictograph  he  invarialdy  sinks  his  personal  name  in  that  of  his  totem  or  family 
name.  There  ai)])ear  to  have  been  origiuidly  three  totems  that  received  the  highest 
honors  and  respect.  Tlu^y  wei-e  the  turtle,  bear,  and  wolf  These  were  the  great 
totems  of  the  InHjuois.  Other  totems  appear  of  secondary,  subordinate,  and  ap])ar- 
ently  newer  origin.' 

'  The  Iriii|iiiiis  liavo  iniiircsscd  ihomsdvps  very  ftninfily  on  our  history,  liiit  in  nnlliinfr  Iiiih  their 
iiituriiiil  orgiiiiizHtiiin  lit.'iii  \i\iiTi'.  ri'iiiurkalili!  than  in  their  in<;uiiioU!4  iind  I'liniplicnted  Hyxtein  of  tutenjs. 
Each  of  tile  .six  tribes  or  eaiiloiis  of  wliiili  tlie  league  eoni-iMtod  in  its)  nioHt  perfect  Htiito  hud  eijilit  lottjuiH, 
five  beinj;  secondary  mid   tliree   primary  t<ileiii.s.     Tliere  were   lima  ei^ht  cl;tstfert  cd'  warriors  and  hunlir.--, 


MANNKIiS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


179 


When  II  turtlo,  bird,  qiiiidniped,  or  otlior  form  of  nnimatcd  nature  is  adopted  a« 
tlio  guardian  H])irit,  or  monedo,  the  pictograpli  of  it  bocotnoH  the  evidence  of  consan- 
guinity. TiiuH,  all  the  perwons  of  the  turtle,  bear,  or  wolf  family  or  totem  become 
brothers  of  the  tribal  cI  ins  of  tlie  turtle,  bear,  or  wolf;  and  so  witli  all  other  totems, 
(treat  stress  is  laid  on  this.  These  marks  are  in  one  sense  the  surname  of  the  dau. 
The  personal  name  is  not  indicative  of  an  Indian's  totem. 

It  is  not  easy  to  assign  a  cause  for  the  great  importance  attached  to  totems,  or 
for  the  respect  paid  to  them.  These  symbolic  divisions  of  tribes  would  appear  to 
have  been  the  original  clan-marks  of  all  the  Indian  tribes,  without  regard  to  tribal 
organizations ;  for  they  are  the  most  ancient  traitu  of  association,  political  or  social, 
that  we  hear  of  As  soon  lus  they  are  named  or  exhibited,  they  open  the  d(K)r  of 
Indian  reserve.  They  appear  to  link  the  tie  of  brotherhood.  It  is  not  hospitality 
alone  that  they  insure  in  the  wigwam  :  the  eyes  of  all  the  family  sparkle  as  sewn  as 
the  analogous  totem  is  mentioned,  as  if  it  disclosed  blood-relationship.  For  a  chief 
or  a  warrior  to  say  to  his  guest,  I  am  of  the  bear,  the  tortoise,  or  the  wolf  totem, 
three  honored  clans,  is  to  remove  all  ceremony  and  break  the  ice  of  Indian  stoicism. 
These  clans  seem  to  have  once  exten<led  from  Patagonia  to  Lake  Athabiusca,  and 
thus  to  furnish  a  mode  of  generalization  more  important  than  traditions  and  older 
than  dialects.  They  draw  these  marks  on  scrolls  of  bark,  and  on  skins  and  wood. 
The  Indians  bear  no  banners,  properly  so  called  ;  they  sometimes  carry  Hags  of 
feathers.  The  totemic  device  appeara  to  be  a  representation  of  the  tutelary  spirit  of 
the  tribe,  not  to  be  worshipped,  and  in  this  view  it  resembli  -,  as  Adair  remarks,  the 
ancient  devices  and  carvings  of  terrestrial  cherubim. 

Among  all  the  tribes  of  the  tutelary  class,  monedoes  who  inhabit  beasts  or  birds 
are  particularly  selected  for  totems.  An  Indian  might  be  called  the  lied  1  )evil  and 
yet  his  personal  name  have  no  bad  significance,  the  term  being  derived  from  a 
small  red  insect  called  vmcomonUoce,  of  the  genus  Coleuptera. 


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FOKJiST-TKACUINGS. 


Hunting  and  war  divide  the  cares  of  the  man.     The  arts  of  both  are  carefully 
taught  to  the  young,  and  enforced  and  daily  applied  by  eonst^mtly  repeated  influence 


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iiu'ludin;;  tliuir  entire  raniilics,  in  each  tribe  or  cantnn.  Families  of  the  same  totem  in  each  canton  could 
not  informarry.  They  were  totemiealiy  related.  The  union  must  be  between  diverse  tutums.  The  bear 
band  of  u  Mohawk  ciiuid  not  marry  into  the  bear  band  of  the  Uneida,  but  mi^ht  into  either  of  the  other  seven 
Interns.  There  were  thus  created  forty-ei};ht  totemie  tics  by  which  the  tribes  were  socially  and  politically 
bound  to<;etlieT.  (It  is  to  bo  observed  that  the  Tuscuroras  have  lust  one  totemio  clan,  consistiug  now  of  but 
seven.) 

There  was  another  law,  which,  at  the  same  time  that  it  regulated  descents,  complicated  them.  Tho 
di'secnt  of  chiefs  wils  in  tho  female  line.  A  chief's  son  did  not  succeed  him,  but  liLs  nest  bmihor,  the 
ri'jlit  of  .•*(ivi'rcii:nty  bcin^  entirely  in  his  motlicr.  When,  however,  the  chief's  wife  had  a  right,  his  son 
WDuld  succeed  liini.  In  this  ca.se  the  tiiteuis  entitled  to  furnish  chiefs  were  diverse.  This  law  of  do.»<cents 
li:is  rendered  it  difficult  for  Kuropeans  to  undirstand  Iroi[Uois  descents,  and  has  led  authors  into  errors  on 
(ho  topic. 


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180 


TlIK  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUB   UNITED  STATES. 


of  precept  iiiul  oxiimple.  The  mule  chililroii  are  early  instructed  in  the  art«  of  the 
chiuse.  Their  eiiiicution  beginn  iiM  Hoon  tut  they  are  capable  of  walking  and  run- 
ning about.  A  tiny  bow  ia  given  to  the  little  abbiiiojec^  as  a  plaything;  and  vtn 
Huun  118  he  uccpiiren  Htrcagth  ho  is  encouraged  to  Hhoot  at  Hniall  birds  or  mjuirrelH. 
Honietiincs  the  triumph  that  attendM  the  initial  hucccsh  in  learning  the  hunter's  art  in 
gained  by  the  anare  that  children  wet  to  catch  little  animals.  The  first  eviilence  of 
success  is  extravagantly  praised,  and  the  object  killed,  however  nmall,  is  prepared  by 
the  females  for  a  feast,  to  which  the  chiefs  and  warriors  urc  ceremoniously  invited. 

Skill  in  killing  large  (piadrupeds  is  the  result  of  years  of  ellbrt,  but  the  art  so 
acquired  is  as  carefully  taught,  and  its  principles  are  lus  anxiously  impressed  on  the 
rising  generation,  tus  are  the  elements  of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  in  civilized 
society.  The  Indian  youth,  as  he  advances  in  the  principles  of  the  hunter's  art, 
is  instructed  by  the  native  priesthood  to  believe  that  this  art  can  be  facilitated  by 
unseen  spiritual  agency,  and  a  subtle  system  of  medical  magic,  which  is  exhibited 
in  connection  with  devices  and  figures  of  the  ))rincipal  animals  hunted,  is  drawn 
on  bark.  To  these  great  attention  is  paid,  and  the  secrets  respecting  them  are 
treasured  up,  and  its  knowledge  sedulously  cultivated,  by  the  Meda,  whose  rites  and 
ceremonies  have  been  describeil  on  foregoing  j)ages. 

I'lHHlNlt. 

In  a  region  abounding  with  lakes  and  streams,  fishing  also  becomes  an  art  tuught 
to  the  young.  There  are  some  modes  of  iishing  through  the  ice  which  arc  very 
ingenious.  One  of  the  most  common  of  these  is  to  play  a  decoy  through  a  hole 
perforated  in  the  ice  by  means  of  an  instrument  called  (UK/ikun  by  the  Algonkin 
tribes.  It  consists  of  a  sort  of  stout  chi.sel  of  iron  attached  firmly  to  a  pole.  The 
<lecoy  is  generally  the  image  of  u  snmll  fish.  The  Indian,  placing  himself  flat  ou 
his  stomach,  covers  his  head  with  his  blanket,  supported  by  branches,  in  order  to  ex- 
clude the  light.  l{y  thus  excluding  the  extraneous  glare  the  vision  is  extended  into 
the  waters  below,  and  the  watcher  stands  ready  with  his  sj)ear  to  dart  the  point 
into  his  victim  as  soon  as  it  approaches  to  seize  the  bait.  In  this  manner,  as  de- 
picted in  Plate  4'J,  the  Indian  is  enabled  to  supply  his  family  with  f(K)d  at  the  most 
inclement  and  pinching  seasons.  Another  mode  of  taking  fish  in  the  winter  is  to 
make  a  seritw  of  orifices  through  the  ice  in  a  direct  line.  A  gill-net  is  then  pushed  by 
its  head-lines  from  one  orifice  lO  another  until  its  entire  length  is  displayed.  liuoys 
and  sinkers  are  attached  to  it,  and  it  is  then  let  down  into  deep  water,  where 
white-fish  and  other  large  species  resort  at  this  sea.son.  IJy  this  mode,  which  is  very 
common  throughout  the  lakes  where  deep  water  abounds,  these  species  are  captured 
at  the  greatest  depths,  while  sheltering  themscdves  in  their  deepest  winter  reces.ses. 
Fish  are  sometimes  brought  up  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Michilimackinac  from 
a  depth  of  eighty  fathoms. 


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MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


181 


When  the  ponds  and  rivers  where  the  musk-rats  harbor  are  found,  their  houses 
are  perforated  with  a  strong  and  peculiarly  shaped  spear,  by  which  the  victim  is 
transpierced,  and  the  animal  brought  out  upon  its  point. 

Salmon-fishing  at  the  Kettle  Falls  of  the  Yakima,  a  tributary  of  the  Columbia 
River,  by  means  of  immense  baskets  suspended  uj)on  poles  beneath  the  water  as  traps, 
is  thus  described.  The  basket  is  made  of  willow,  from  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  long,  five 
or  six  wide,  and  about  four  deep,  with  a  high  back  upon  one  side,  which  is  designed 
to  rise  above  the  surface  of  the  water.  A  stick  of  timl)er  is  firmly  anchored  in  the 
rocks  below  the  falls,  extending  out  over  the  stream  twenty  or  thirty  feet.  Upon  this 
the  basket  is  suspended,  and  so  far  submerged  as  to  leave  the  back  just  above  the 
water  up  stream,  while  the  opposite  side  is  several  inches  below  the  surface  of  the 
water  and  down  stream.  The  a.scending  salmon  rise  up  the  side  of  the  basket  and 
spring  into  it,  wlu^re  they  are  held,  their  progress  being  arrested  by  the  high  back, 
and,  as  tliey  never  turn  tlioir  heads  down  the  current,  they  are  retained  securely. 
Two  hundred  salmon,  weighing  from  six  to  forty  pounds  each,  have  been  caught  in 
this  way  in  a  few  hours.  Tiie  falls  are  fifleen  feet  high,  but  they  present  no  barrier 
to  the  passage  of  the  salmon  up  the  river.  The  fish  shoot  themselves  up  at  one  dart, 
— it  is  simply  swimming  up  at  a  faster  rate  than  the  water  falls, — and  then  continue 
tiieir  course.  The  salmon  of  tlic  Columbia,  unlike  those  oC  other  parts  of  the  world, 
do  not  take  the  hook,  and,  strange  though  it  may  seem,  are  Siiid  nevi  i  to  stop  search- 
ing for  the  source  of  the  stream  they  are  in. 

The  streams  which  traverse  tiic  Indian  country  are  often  barred  near  their  outlets 
with  stakes  securely  Ixaind  together,  with  transver  poles  extending  f'nim  bank  to 
liank.  These  jjoles  are  so  close  as  to  prevent  sturgeon  a/id  all  the  larger  sjtecies  from 
ascending  except  l)y  a  single  aperture  which  is  purposely  left.  Through  this  tlu'  fish 
ascend  in  their  fre(juent  attempts  to  force  their  way  up  stream  for  the  purpose  of 
depositing  their  spawn,  but  in  descending  they  are  arrested  by  (he  poles  of  the  dam, 
and  forced  against  then).  The  Indian,  walking  on  the  transverse  poles,  with  a  iiook 
at  the  end  of  a  pole  which  is  placed  on  the  upper  side  of  the  dam,  feels  the  pressure 
of  the  <lescending  lish,  and  ity  a  (piick  jerk  i>rings  up  his  victim.  During  the  low 
waters  of  the  summer  solstice,  lines  of  stcnes  are  placed  from  each  bank  where  the 
river  has  a  marked  descent,  pointing  downwards  at  an  acute  angle,  until  they  meet, 
within  three  or  four  feet.  This  space  is  tilled  with  stones  of  less  height,  over  whidi 
the  pent-up  water  rushes  and  falls  on  a  platform  of  j)()le.s.  This  platform,  which 
performs  the  purpose  of  a  coars.^  longitudinal  sieve,  lets  through  the  water,  leaving 
the  llsii  to  flounder  and  hi  picked  up  ad  liiUuin.  This  contrivance  is  sometimes 
called  ntiiiu  kowaydn,  or  sturgeon's  yoke. 

At  the  foot  of  rapids  and  falls  the  fish  are  followed  up  in  their  continued  struggle 
to  ascend  by  fishermen  in  a  canoe,  who  provide  tlieinselvcs  with  a  scoop-n>'t  attached 
tiv  the  end  of  a  long  pole,  and  capture  their  victims  by  a  dexterous  swoop  of  the  im- 
plement. This  act  recpiircs  great  care,  activity,  and  exertion,  since,  the  canoe  being 
made  of  hark,  and  almost  as  light  as  an  egg-shell,  the  fisherman  is  liable,  the  moment 
he  stands  on  the  gunwales,  to  be  tipped  over  into  the  boiling,  foaming  waters.     In 


.     ( 


^'♦' 


182 


TIIK  JXDIAN    TJilliKS   OF  THE   UMTKD  STATES. 


order  to  prevent  it  from  shooting  from  under  hira,  a  man  sits  at  the  stern  with  his 
})addle  to  keep  the  boat  Iieaded,  and  tlie  iisliernian  stands  watching  his  oi)portunity 
as  tiie  .seliuol  of  iisli  jia.s.s  by  ;  then,  bahmeing  himself  with  the  manoeuvring  and 
consumnuite  skill  of  a  rope-dancer,  he  lifts  his  ])rey  into  tlie  canoe. 

This  species  of  fishing  nuiy  be  seen  j)ractised  in  the  most  striking  manner  during 
the  fishing  seiwons  at  the  Falls  of  iSt.  Mary's,  on  the  straits  between  Lakes  Huron 
anil  Suj)erior,  which  have  long  been  noted  for  the  abundance  and  fine  flavor  of  the 
white-fish. 

Sometimes  fish  anj  shot  with  an  arrow  by  a  watcher  sitting  on  the  banks  of  the 
river.  Fish  are  also  speared  from  a  canoe,  usually  in  the  morning,  when  they  are 
close  in-shore,  lying  under  the  leaves  and  rushes  that  grow  on  the  banks  of  streams. 
An  Indian  woman  or  l)oy  paddles  the  canoe  gently  along  the  shore,  while  the  man 
stands  up  in  the  bow  or  on  the  gunwales,  liolding  his  sjjear  ready  to  strike  the  fish 
when  seen. 

The  fish-hook  is  employed  chiefly  in  deep  waters,  and  is  intended  for  the  larger 
species.  The  wliitc-lisl'L,  so  common  to  the  whole  line  of  lakes,  never  bites  at  a  hook, 
and  is  captured  sijlely  by  nets  or  spears.  The  ordinary  tnmt-  and  cod-hook  has 
been  supplied  by  commerce  since  the  discovery  of  America,  but  the  ancient  Indian 
hook  of  bone  was  shajx'd  nuich  like  it,  and  its  use  was  in  every  way  similar,  as  is 
seen  from  an  antitjue  bone  hook  found  in  the  mounds  on  Cunningham's  Island,  Lake 
ICrie. 


AKT    OK    mXTlN(i. 

This  ingenuity  in  the  taking  of  lisli  evinces  a  degree  of  skill  which  challenges 
admiration,  15ut  it  is  tar  inferior  to  that  art  whi'-;h  is  u  necessity  to  the  hunter  in 
his  nobler  pursuit  of  game  on  tiie  laud.  To  him  are  known  the  habits,  ranges,  and 
foot!  t)f  all  the  quailrupeds  which  constitute  objects  of  the  cha.se.  It  is  essential  that 
he  should  know  not  only  tlu'  species  of  food  which  each  (piadruped  C(»vets,  but  also 
the  lime  most  favorable  to  his  sallying  out  of  his  coverts  to  obtain  it,  together  with 
the  various  j)rec'autions  necessary  in  order  to  elude  the  (piick  ear  and  instincts  of  his 
victims. 

Tlie  -implest  of  all  species  of  iiunting  i<,  perhaps,  the  art  of  hunting  the  deer. 
This  aniriial,  it  is  known,  is  cnilowed  with  liie  liital  curiosity  of  stopping  in  its  flight 
to  turn  round  and  look  at  the  object  that  disturbed  it  ;  and  as  this  is  generally  done 
within  rifle-range,  the  hi. bit  is  indulged  at  the  ctxst  of  its  life,  whereas  if  it  trusted 
nnwaveriniily  to  its  licjis  it  would  escape.  One  of  the  most  ingenious  ukkIcs  of 
hunting  the  deer  is  that  of //'/•'-//(//(////*/,  taking  advantage  of  the  aniund's  habit  of 
resorting  to  the  banks  of  streams  at  night.  In  the  latter  part  of  spring  and  snnuncr, 
the  lndi;<n  lninttr~  on  tlic  small  interior  rivers  take  the  bark  of  the  elm  or  cedar, 
peeling  it  olf  whole  for  five  or  six  feet  in  length,  and,  turning  it  inside  out,  paint  the 
outer  surface  black  with  cban'oal.  It  is  ilien  pierci'd  with  an  orifice  to  (it  it,  on  the 
bow  of  .lie  eaiioe,  so  as  to  bide  tlie  >itter;  tlien  a  light  or  torch  is  mad  by  small 
rolls,  tv  o  or  three  feet  long,  of  twi>ted  liireli-liark  Iwliirb  is  verv  inflammablel,  atnl 


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MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


183 


this  is  placed  on  the  oxtroino  bow  of  tin;  l)out,  ii  little  in  front  of  the  bark  nereen,  In 
whieli  iHwition  it  thrown  it.s  rayn  Htronj^ly  forwani,  h'living  all  behind  in  (hirknens. 
The  (h'er,  whoso  eyes  ai((  fixed  on  tlie  li<;ht  as  it  iloats  (h»wn,  is  thus  bron<^ht  within 
ranj^e  of  the  gun.     Swans  uro  hunted  in  the  same  way. 

The  mazes  of  the  forest  uro,  however,  the  Indian  hunter's  peculiar  field  of  action. 
No  footprint  can  be  impressed  there  with  which  he  is  not  familiar.  In  his  temporary 
journeys  in  the  search  after  game  he  generally  encamps  early  and  sallies  out  at  the 
first  pet'p  of  day  on  his  hunting  tour.  If  he  is  in  a  forest  country,  he  choosi's  his 
ambush  in  valleys,  for  the  plain  reason  that  all  animals,  as  night  ajiproaches,  come 
into  the  valleys.  In  ascending  these  he  is  very  careful  to  take  that  side  of  a  stream 
which  throws  the  shadow  from  it,  so  that  he  may  have  a  clear  view  of  all  that  ])as.ses 
on  the  oj)posite  side,  while  he  is  himself  screened  by  the  shadow.  IJut  he  is  particu- 
larly (Ml  the  alert  to  tuke  this  precaution  if  he  is  a|)prehensive  of  lurking  foes.  The 
tracks  of  an  animal  are  the  subject  of  the  minutest  observation  ;  they  tell  him  at  a 
glance  the  species  of  animal  that  has  passed,  the  time  that  has  elapsed,  and  the 
course  it  has  pursued.  If  the  surface -of  the  earth  is  moist,  the  indications  are 
l)lain  ;  if  it  is  hard  or  rocky,  they  are  drawn  from  less  palpable,  but  scarcely  less 
unmistakabhi,  signs.  One  of  the  most  successful  ami  most  varied  day's  hunts  of 
which  we  are  apprised  was  performed  by  a  notctl  ("hippcwa  hunter  named  Xokay, 
on  the  Upper  Mississippi,  who,  tradition  asserts,  killed  in  one  day,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Crow-Wing  River,  sixteen  elk,  four  buffaloes,  live  deer,  three  bears,  one  lynx, 
and  a  porcupine.  This  feat  has  d(mbtless  been  exceeded  in  the  buffalo  ranges  of 
th(!  Southwest,  where  the  bow  and  arrow  are  known  to  have  been  so  dexterously 
and  rapidly  applied  in  respect  to  that  animal,  but  it  is  seldom  that  the  chase  in 
forest  districts  is  as  successful  as  in  this  instance. 

If  a  Dakota  kills  a  deer,  the  one  who  gets  to  him  fii-st  receives  the  best  piece. 
Sometimes  the  slayer  gets  nothing  but  the  hide,  for  when  they  are  very  hungry  there 
is  great  pulling  and  hauling  for  the  meat.  The  chief  never  interferes.  The  strongest 
is  the  best  fellow,  and  keeps  what  he  gets.  They  have  no  secret  arts,  beyond  their 
jugglery  and  the  medicine-dani-e.  Any  one  belonging  to  the  nu'dicine-dance  can  act 
ius  doctor,  priest,  juggler,  or  any  other  character  that  he  can  pei-sonate.  They  steal, 
get  drunk,  murder,  do  all  sorts  of  mischief,  and  notwithstanding  all  this  are  looked 
upon  as  great  medicine-men. 

JJcars  and  wolves  are  shot  with  a  gun.  The  antelope  is  a  singular  animal,  and  is 
easily  decoyed  by  the  hunter's  hiding  himself  in  the  gnuss  and  sticking  something 
red  on  a  small  stick  and  raising  it  above  the  grass  a  little.  The  antelope  will  come 
t(t  see  what  it  is ;  the  hunter  raises  the  red  article  every  now  and  then,  and  lets  it  fall 
again.  The  anteh)pe  keeps  approaching,  until  it  is  decoyt'd  close  enough  to  be  shot. 
The  Indians  us--  baits  of  different  kinds  for  beaver.  An  Indian  who  can  kill  a  large 
number  of  b  avers  ihinks  himself  a  gri'at  medicine-man.  The  Indians  say  that  there 
is  a  great  art  in  se.tiag  traps  for  beaver  to  be  successful.  They  pretend  to  charm 
some  kind  of  ujnmils  by  mimicking  them,  and  sometimes  succeed  in  killing  game  in 
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23  WEST  MA'M  ST»?ET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14;>6> 

(716)  872-4503 


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184 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


WAE  AND   ITS  INCIDENTS. 


Success  in  war  is  to  the  Indian  the  acme  of  glory,  and  to  learn  its  arts  the  object 
of  his  highest  attainment.  The  boys  and  youth  acquire  at  an  early  period  the 
accomplishment  of  dancing  the  war-dance ;  and  although  they  are  not  permitted  to 
join  its  fascinating  circle  till  thoy  assume  the  envied  rank  of  actual  warriors,  still 
their  early- sports  and  mimic  pastimes  are  imitations  of  its  various  movements  and 
postures.  The  envied  eagle's  feather  is  the  prize.  For  this  the  Indian's  talent, 
subtlety,  endurance,  and  bravery  are  taxed  to  their  utmost,  and  persevering  fasts 
and  religious  jwaances  and  observances  are  practised.  The  war-path  is  taken  by 
youths  at  an  early  age.  That  age  may  be  stated,  for  general  comparison,  to  be 
sixteen ;  but  without  respect  to  exact  time,  it  is  always  after  the  primary  fasi  during 
which  the  youth  choosr  ^  his  ])ersonal  guardian  or  monedo; — an  age  when  he  first 
assumes  the  duties  of  manhood.  It  is  the  period  of  the  assumption  of  the  three- 
pointed  blanket,  the  true  toga  of  the  North  American  Indian. 

The  whole  force  of  public  opinion  in  our  Indian  communities  is  concentrated  on 
this  point:  the  early  lodge  teachings  (such  as  the  recital  of  adventures  of  bravery), 
tlie  dances,  the  religious  rites,  the  harangues  of  prominent  actors  made  at  public  assem- 
blages (such  as  that  called  "  striking  the  post") , — Svhatever,  in  fact,  serves  to  awaken 
and  lire  ambition  in  the  mind  of  the  savage  is  clustered  about  the  idea  of  future  dis- 
tinction in  war.  Civilization  has  many  points  of  ambitious  attainment.  The  Indian 
has  but  one  prime  honor  to  grasp :  it  is  triumph  in  the  war-path ;  it  is  rushing  upon 
his  enemy,  tearing  tl:  scalp  rooking  from  his  hciid,  and  then  uttering  his  terrific 
m-sa-kuon  (death- whoop).  For  tliis  crowning  act  he  is  permitted  to  mount  the 
honored  feather  of  the  war-eagle, — the  king  of  carnivorous  birds.  By  this  mark  he 
is  publicly  known,  and  his  honors  are  recognized  by  all  his  tribe,  and  by  the  sur- 
rounding tribes  whose  customs  a.s8imilate. 

When  the  scalp  of  an  enemy  has  boon  won,  great  pains  are  taken  to  exhibit 
it.  For  this  purj>ose  it  is  stretched  on  a  hoop  and  mounted  on  a  polei  The  inner 
part  is  painted  red,  and  the  hair  adjusted  to  hang  in  its  natural  manner.  If  it  is 
the  scalp  of  a  male,  eagles'  feathers  are  atbched  to  denote  Ihat  fact;  if  of  a  female,  a 
comb  or  scissors  is  hung  on  the  frame.  In  this  condition  it  is  placed  in  the  hands 
of  an  old  woman,  who  bears  it  about  in  the  scalp-dance,  while  opprobrious  epithets 
are  uttered  against  the  tribe  from  whom  it  was  taken.  Amidst  these  wild  rejoicings 
the  war-cry  is  vociferated,  and  the  general  sentiment  with  old  and  young  is,  "  Thus 
shall  it  be  done  to  our  enemies."  The  feather  of  the  eagle  is  the  highest  honor  that 
H  warrior  can  wear,  and  a  very  extravagant  sum  is  sonietimes  given  to  procure  one. 
The  value  of  a  horse  bus  been  kn(»wn  to  Ih'  paid.  The  mode  in  which  a  feather  is  to 
be  cut  and  worn  is  a  mutter  of  iniportaiice.  The  scale  of  honor  with  the  several 
tribes  may  vary,  but  the  essential  features  are  the  same.     Among  the  Dakota  tribes 


an  eagle's  feather  with  a  red 


notch  cut  111  it  and  the 


pot  denotes  tliat  the  wearer  has  killed  an  enemy,  a 
rod  iiidioato  that  the  throat  of 


edges  of  tlie  feather  j)aiitto( 


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MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


185 


an  enemy  has  been  cut.  Small  consecutive  notches  on  the  front  side  of  the  feather, 
without  paint,  denote  that  the  wearer  is  the  third  person  that  has  touched  the  dead 
body ;  both  edges  notched,  that  he  is  the  fourth  person  that  has  touched  it ;  and  the 
feather  partly  denuded,  that  he  is  the  fifth  person  that  has  touched  the  slain.  The 
feather  clipped  off,  and  the  edges  painted  red,  are  indicative  of  the  cutting  of  an 
enemy's  throat. 

The  warlike  tribe  of  Chippewas  on  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi,  who,  from  a 
national  act  in  their  history,  bear  the  distinctive  name  of  Pillagers,  award  a  success- 
ful warrior,  who  shoots  down  and  scalps  his  enemy,  three  feathers ;  and  for  the  still 
more  dangerous  act  of  taking  a  wounded  prisoner  on  the  field,  five :  for  they  con- 
ceive that  a  wounded  enemy  is  desperate,  and  will  generally  reserve  his  fire  for  a  last 
act  of  vengeance,  should  he  die  the  moment  after.  Those  of  the  war-party  who  come 
up  immediately  and  strike  the  enemy,  so  as  to  get  marks  of  blood  on  their  weapons, 
receive  two  feathers.  It  is  customary  for  as  many  as  can  to  perform  this  act.  It 
is  considered  a  proof  of  bravery,  and  in  their  future  assemblies  for  the  purpose  of 
"  sinking  the  post"  they  will  not  fail  to  allude  to  it.  All  who  can  rise  in  such  assem- 
blies and  declare  the  performance  of  such  a  deed  in  the  presence  of  the  warriors  are 
ranked  as  brave  men.  They  never,  however,  blame  one  another  for  personal  acts 
denoting  cowardice  or  any  species  of  timidity  while  on  the  war-path,  hoping  by  this 
course  to  encourage  the  young  men  to  do  better  on  future  occasions. 

All  war-parties  consist  of  volunteers.  The  leader,  or  war-captain,  who  attempts 
to  raise  one,  must  have  some  reputation  to  start  on.  His  appeals  at  the  assemblages 
for  dancing  the  preliminary  war-dance  are  to  the  principles  of  bravery  and  nation- 
ality. They  are  brief  and  to  the  point.  He  is  careful  to  be  thought  to  act  under 
the  guidance  of  the  Great  Spirit,  of  whose  secret  will  he  affects  to  be  apprised  in 
dreams  or  by  some  rites.  He  takes  the  war-club  in  his  lu  ids,  smeared  with  vermilion 
to  symbolize  blood,  and  begins  his  war-song.  The  war-songs  are  brief,  wild  repeti- 
tions of  sentiments  of  heroic  deeds,  or  incitements  to  patriotic  or  military  ardor.  They 
are  accompanied  by  the  drum  and  rattle,  and  by  the  voice  of  one  or  more  choristers. 
They  are  repeated  slowly,  sententiously,  and  with  a  measured  cadence,  to  which  the 
most  exact  time  is  kept.  The  warrior  stamps  the  ground  as  if  he  could  shake  the 
His  language  is  oft«n  highly  figurative,  and  he  deals  with  the  machinery 


universe. 


of  clouds,  the  flight  of  cariiivorous  birds,  and  the  influence  of  spiritt/'.l  agfcies,  as 
if  the  region  of  space  were  at  his  command.  He  imagines  his  voice  to  be  h'^wd  in 
the  clouds ;  and  while  he  stamps  the  ground  with  well-feigned  fury,  he  fauci*  '<  him- 
Hclf  to  take  hold  of  the  "  circle  of  the  sky"  with  h'"  hands.  Every  few  moments  lie 
stops  abruptly  in  his  circular  path,  and  utters  the  piercing  war-cry.  He  must  be  a 
ook'  listener  who  can  sit  unmoved  by  these  appeals.  The  ideas  thrown  out  succeed 
one  another  with  the  impetuosity  of  a  torrent.  They  are  suggestive  of  heroic  frames 
of  mind,  of  strong  will,  of  high  courage,  of  burning  sentiment: 


^11 


Hear  my  voice,  ye  warlike  birds  I 
I  prepare  a  feast  for  you  to  batten  on; 
24 


TfTm^ 

,   V,  •. 

If 

fliilii 

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:^  ■::;•■ 

183  77/^  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

I  see  you  cross  the  enemy's  lines ;  ' 

Like  you  I  shall  go. 

I  wish  the  swiftness  of  your  wings ; 

I  wish  the  vengeance  of  your  claws ; 

1  muster  my  friends ;  .   • 

I  follow  your  flight.  ' 

Ho,  ye  young  men,  that  are  warriors, 

Look  with  wrath  on  the  battle-field. 

Every  warrior  that  rises  and  joins  the  war-dance  becomes  thereby  a  volunteer 
for  the  trip.  He  arras  and  equips  himself,  he  provides  his  own  sustenance,  and  when 
he  steps  out  into  the  ring  and  dances  he  chants  his  own  song,  and  is  greeted  with 
redoubled  yells.  These  ceremonies  are  tantamount  to  "  enlistment,"  and  no  young 
man  who  thus  comes  forward  can  honorably  withdraw. 

Whoever  has  heard  an  Indian  war-song  and  witnessed  an  Indian  war-dance 
must  be  satisfied  that  the  occasion  wakes  up  all  the  fire  and  energy  of  the  Indian's 
soul.  His  flashing  eye,  his  muscular  energy  as  he  begins  the  dance,  his  violent  ges- 
ticulations as  he  raises  his  war-cry,  the  whole  frame  and  expression  of  the  man, 
demonstrate  this.  And  long  before  it  comes  to  his  turn  to  utter  his  stave  or  part  of 
the  chant,  his  mind  hjis  been  worked  up  to  the'  most  intense  point  of  excitement. 
His  imagination  has  pictured  the  enemy,  the  ambush  and  the  onset,  the  victory,  and 
the  bleeding  victim  writhing  under  his  prowess.  In  thought  he  has  already  stamped 
him  under  foot  and  torn  off  his  reeking  scalp.  He  has  seen  the  eagles  hovering  in 
the  air,  ready  to  pounce  on  the  dead  carcass  as  soon  as  the  combatants  quit  the  field. 

It  would  reijuirc  strong  and  graphic  language  to  give  descriptive  utterance,  in  the 
shape  of  a  song,  to  all  he  has  fancied  and  sees  and  feels  on  the  subject.  Physical 
excitement  has  absorbed  his  energies.  He  is  in  no  mood  for  calm  and  collected 
descriptions  of  battle-scenes.  He  has  no  stores  of  measured  rhymes  to  full  back  on. 
All  he  can  do  is  to  utter  brief  and  often  highly  symbolic  expressions  of  courage,  of 
defiance,  of  indomitable  rage.  His  feet  stamp  the  ground  as  if  he  would  shake  it  to 
its  centre.  The  inspiring  drum  and  mystic  rattle  communicate  new  energy  to  every 
stop,  while  they  serve,  by  the  observance  of  the  most  exact  time,  to  concentrate  his 
energy.  His  very  looks  depict  the  spirit  of  rage ;  and  his  yells,  quick,  sharp,  and  cut 
off  by  the  application  of  the  hand  to  the  mouth,  are  startling  and  horrific. 

Nothing  but  the  taking  of  life  is  considered  by  the  Winnebagoes  as  just  cause  of 
war.  When  an  Indian  has  had  a  relative  killed  by  Indians  of  another  tribe,  and 
wishes  to  raise  a  war-party  to  avenge  him,  in  case  the  enemy  is  not  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood,  and  instant  action  for  self-defence  is  not  required,  he,  in  the  first  place, 
fasts  until  he  has  a  favorable  dream ;  if,  perchance,  he  has  had  a  bad  dream,  he  gets 
up  and  eats,  and  commences  his  fast  again,  and  continues  until  his  dream  is  favorable 
to  his  purpose ;  he  then  makes  a  feast,  invites  his  friends,  relates  his  dream,  and  asks 
them  to  go  with  him  on  a  war-path.  The  war-chief  is  usually  invited  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  party. 


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MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


187 


All  who  join  the  party  volimteer ;  none  are  compelled  to  servo,  and  those  who 
volunteer  do  not  obligate  themselves  to  serve  during  the  war,  or  for  any  fixed  time. 
If  a  wartior  turns  back  after  starting  on  a  war-path,  he  is  laughed  at,  perhaps,  but 
not  punished  for  deserting.  The  man  who  gets  up  the  party  and  his  friend.s  furnish 
a  feast  at  starting ;  after  that  each  warrior  takes  care  of  and  supports  himself.  The 
Indian  goeS  to  war  on  hifl  o1vn  •"  charges ;"  no  munitions  of  war,  subsistence,  or  trans- 
portation are  ft  rnished  at  the  public  expense;  each  warrior  furnishes  himself  with 
arms  and  ammunition.  To  these  facta  the  peculiar  character  of  Indian  warfare  is  to 
be  attributed.  Having  no  commissary  department,  they  cannot  subsist  an  army,  and 
when,  under  a  general  and  strong  excitement,  several  hundred  warriors  start  together 
on  a  war-path,  they  are  of  necessity  obliged  in  a  short  time  to  separate  in  search  of 
subsistence. 

The  Indian  who  raises  a  war-party  furnishes  a  horse  and  as  much  wampum  as  he 
is  able ;  the  war-chief  also  furnishes  something.  The  warrior  who  takes  the  first 
scalp  receives  the  property  furnished  by  the  man  who  got  up  the  party ;  and  the 
warrior  who  takes  the  second  scalp  receives  the  property  furnished  by  the  war-chief. 

Warriors  start  for  the  first  place  of  rendezvous  singly  or  in  squads,  as  may  be 
most  convenient.  No  order  is  observed.  After  they  are  assembled,  and  before 
starting  on  the  war-path,  they  dance,  and  sacrifice  dogs  and  deer-skins  dressed  white. 
Each  warrior  cjirries  a  bag  made  of  skins  or  rushes,  in  which  is  carried  a  root.  Be- 
fore going  into  battle  they  chew  this  root,  swallow  some  of  its  juice,  and  put  some  of 
it  on  their  bodies,  to  make  them  brave  and  keep  them  from  being  hurt.  This  medi- 
cine does  not  have  the  effect  to  deaden  pain.  After  the  ceremony  of  the  dance  is 
concluded,  the  party  start  in  single  file,  the  war-chief  at  their  head.  When  they 
arrive  in  the  neighl)orhood  of  their  enemy,  tliey  have  a  vanguard  when  marching, 
and  sentinels  stationed  when  encamped  at  night.  Neither  priests  nor  jugglers  are 
consulted  respecting  the  result  of  a  campaign  ;  the  dream  of  the  warrior  who  raises 
a  war-party  is  relied  on. 

The  war-chief  directs  the  movements  of  the  party  and  commands  in  battle ;  he 
plans  the  attack,  issues  orders  to  his  braves,  and  assigiis  them  their  post.  They 
sometimes  fight  in  line  when  they  happen  to  meet  an  enemy  in  the  open  field  by  f'  y. 
In  such  case  they  commence  firing  as  soon  as  they  come  within  range,  and  then 
advance,  the  object  of  each  party  being  to  drive  the  other  from  the  field.  When  one 
party  breaks  and  retreats,  the  other  pursues,  killing  with  the  knife  and  war-club. 
The  wounded  retire  to  the  rear.  The  usual  plan  adopted  by  tht  party  making  the 
attack  is  first  to  ascertain  by  reconnoissance  the  exact  position  of  the  enemy,  then 
start  upon  him  in  the  night,  and  at  a  given  signal  attack  him  promiscuously.  The 
war-whoop  is  not  used  as  an  order  or  signal  after  commencing  an  attack,  but,  like 
the  shout  of  the  white  soldier  in  battle,  is  intended  to  defy  the  enemy  and  exult  in 
success.  •"*  ' "  .    - 

The  Dakotas  seldom  amputate  a  limb.  They  have  no  surgical  instruments. 
They  are  not  skilful  in  splints.  If  a  limb  is  broken,  it  is  almost  sure  to  be  crooked 
afterwards.     The  mode  of  carrying  the  sick  or  wounded  is  in  a  litter  on  two  poles 


i       i 


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j". 


188 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


lashed  together,  with  a  blanket  fastened  on  top.  (Plate  49.)  Two  men  carry  this 
litter,  one  at  each  end,  by  means  of  the  head-strap,  which  is  fastened  to  each  side  of 
the  litter  and  then  brought  over  the  carrier's  neck.  It  is  wonderful  how  fur  two 
Indiana  will  carry  a  heavy  man  in  this  way. 

Sometimes  a  war-party  agree  to  take  one  or  two  prisoners.  If  a  warrior  wants  a 
prisoner  for  the  purpose  of  adopting  him  into  his  family ,  he  is  allowed  to  take  one. 
No  important  ceremony  is  observed  in  adopting  a  prisoner.  Wi'^'^out  a  previous 
arrangement,  male  prisoners  are  seldom  taken  in  battle.  Quarter  is  neither  given 
nor  asked  ;  the  Indian,  when  outnumbered  and  surrounded  so  that  he  cannot  retreat, 
knows  that  it  is  useless  to  surrender,  and  fights  to  the  last.  When,  as  sometimes 
liai)i)ens,  a  warrior  is  taken  in  battle,  and  his  captor  does  not  wish  to  adopt  him,  and 
the  war-chief  is  not  present  to  decide  his  fate,  he  is  bound  and  taken  to  the  village 
where  that  chief  resides.  The  prisoner  is  then  made  to  go  about  in  the  village,  and 
if  he  enters  the  lodge  of  the  war-chief  he  is  condemned  to  die,  but  if  the  war-chief 
shut.s  his  lodge  against  him  his  life  is  safe.  The  war-chief  has  the  power  of  life  and 
(loath  in  the  case.  They  do  not  bury  their  dead  who  fall  in  the  field  of  battle,  neither 
do  they  strip  them  of  their  ornaments,  but  leave  them  as  they  fall.  They  kill  and 
scalp  the  wounded  of  their  enemy.  Sometimes  Indians,  after  being  scalped  and  left 
for  dead  on  the  field  of  battle,  recover  and  get  b^ck  to  their  tribe.  There  are  indi- 
viduals now  living  who  have  recovered  under  such  circumstances.  Prisoners  whose 
lives  are  spared  are  not  made  slaves  of,  but  generally  marry,  and  are  treated  as 
members  of  the  tribe.  The  Winnebago  warriors  say  that  chastity  is  by  their  tribe 
uniformly  respected  in  war.  They  say  that  the  Great  Spirit  has  told  them  not  to 
abuse  the  women. 

The  warriors  start  on  the  war-path  attired  in  their  usual  dress,  but  go  into  battle 
divested  of  most  of  their  clothing.  They  paint  their  faces  and  bodies  so  as  to  appear 
as  hideous  as  possible.  They  use  vermilion  and  most  of  the  pigments  employed  by 
j)ainters,  ruid  when  these  cannot  be  obtained  they  besmear  their  bodies  with  clay. 
The  feather  of  the  war-eagle  is  worn  by  those  warriors  who  have  taken  a  scalp  in 
battle.  Some  wear  frontlets,  and  this  ornament  is  constructed  of  various  materials, 
and  in  various  shapes  and  patterns.  They  wear  a  small  portion  of  the  hair  on  the 
top  and  back  part  of  the  head  long  and  braided.  Their  ornaments  are  worn  in 
battle.  These  consist  chiefly  of  necklaces  of  animals'  claws,  bracelets,  and  rings. 
The  rifle  is  now  in  general  uue  instead  of  the  bow  and  arrow.  The  war-club,  toma- 
hawk, and  knife  arc  still  used  as  weapons. 

War-parties  are  raised  by  any  person  who  feels  aggrieved  or  has  had  a  relative 
killed.  If  he  cannot  carry  out  his  designs,  he  will  employ  some  one  else  whom  he 
considers  able  to  make  a  successful  raid.  The  head  of  the  party  must  be  a  great 
medicine-man,  a  pro])het,  or  in  some  other  way  distinguished.  The  war-chief  makes 
a  dance  every  three  or  four  nights  for  two  or  three  weeks  before  the  party  marches. 
This  is  in  the  lodge.  On  these  excursions  the  war-chief  makes  laws  after  they  get 
started,  and  if  any  one  breaks  them  his  gun  is  broken  and  his  blanket  cut  by  five  or 
six  warriors  who  are  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the  war-chief.     They  dance  when 


i 


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MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


189 


thoy  como  in  the  ncij^hhorluxMl  of  the  oiiomy'H  country.  Tho  order  of  tlie  miirch  is 
nuulc  by  tiie  wiir-cliiof.  Ho  tollH  tho  party  vviiero  they  will  ciimj),  wlmt  tlioy  will 
kill,  ami  what  they  will  boo  during  tho  day.  Tho  war-chiof  niukcH  \\\a  dancon,  which 
is  tho  only  corcinony  before  the  march.  Thoy  move  as  HiiitH  thomselvcH,  in  Indian  lilo 
generally.  They  have  no  ruloH  for  that  purpose.  Thoy  have  very  gootl  roots  which 
thoy  apply  to  wounds.  They  have  many  rootfl  which  they  use  for  food.  In  these 
war  oxcui'sions  they  pretend  that  tho  medicine  in  their  war-sacks  will  give  them 
courage  and  success  without  eating  it.  Great  precaution  is  used  on  the  march. 
Three  or  four  arc  sent  ahead  of  tho  party  as  spies,  who  stop  two  or  three  times  in  a 
day  and  let  the  party  come  up,  aiul  tell  what  they  have  seen  and  heard ;  and  then 
there!  is  a  council  on  the  subject.  Tho  chiefs  have  very  little  comnumd  or  control  of 
a  village,  or  in  the  war ;  and  chiefs  do  not  otlen  go  to  war.  Tt;  ^attle  there  is  no  order. 
After  the  battle  commences  there  is  no  concert  or  calmnes.s  Everything  is  irreg- 
ular. If  they  retreat,  each  one  makes  the  best  of  his  way  l:o?u.'.  The  plan  of  attack 
is  made  known  to  the  party  by  the  war-chief  if  possible.  Tho  xpies  reconnoitre  tho 
enemy's  camp,  and  the  plan  of  the  battle  is  then  fixed.  When  they  are  near  enough, 
they  have  a  whistle  to  blow,  at  which  sound  they  all  lire ;  then  ilic  war-whoop  conu's, 
and  they  thicj^e  on  the  enemy.  There  is  lu)  order  of  re  rent;  no  rallying-placo 
named.  When  the  worsted  party  flies,  their  antagonist.)  follow  in  irregular  ])ursuit. 
I'risuners  have  their  hands  tied  behind  them,  and  have  to  walk  with  the  war-party. 


;  t 


HTUIKIXd   TIIK    POST. 

Whoever  has  observed  the  varying  phases  of  Indian  society  as  it  exists  both  in 
the  forests  and  prairies  that  stretch  between  the  Alleghany  and  Rocky  Mountains,  nnist 
have  bccomo  sensible  that  the  feature  of  military  glory  constitutes  the  prime  object 
of  attainment.  Tlu;  civilized  warrior  receives  a  badge  of  lioiU)r  and  a  title  from  his 
monarch's  hands.  The  Indian  is  content  with  an  eagle's  feather  fa.-<tened  in  his  hair. 
His  step  is  as  proud,  his  satisfaction  for  the  honor  as  great  and  vivid.  One  of  the 
princi|tal  means  of  cultivating  this  spirit  in  the  In<lian  is  a  public  as.semblage  for 
reciting  the  deeds  of  bravery  in  the  triln*.  For  this  purpose  a  post  is  erected  on 
some  eligible  spot,  where  the  whole  tribe  can  conveniently  witness  the  ceremonies. 
This  post  is  painted  red,  the  usual  synjbolic  color  of  war.  Music  is  provided  by  the 
Indian  tawaiegon,  or  drum,  and  ratthw,  and  by  having  present  a  corps  of  singers  who 
are  adepts  in  the  Indian  songs  and  choruses.  After  thive  preliminary  flourishes,  to 
excite  the  feeling  of  military  ardor,  a  sharp  yell  gives  them  notice  that  one  of  the 
warriors  present  is  about  to  recite  his  exploits.  The  nnisic  immediately  stops,  and 
gives  place  to  the  most  profound  attention.  Dressed  out  in  his  highest  "braveries" 
and  war-marks,  the  warrior  then  steps  forward,  and  with  his  club  and  lance  strikes 
the  painted  post.  No  ancient  hero  drawn  by  Homer  could  exhibit  more  fire  in  words 
and  acts  while  he  details  his  exjtloits.  He  accompanies  every  gesture  with  the  [nv- 
cise  voice  and  unction  proper  to  the  narration,  and  when  lie  finishes  his  recital  the 
whole  assembly  of  warriors  unite  in  yells  of  victory  and  defiance.     The  music  and 


r  ^  " 


..■rt,  ^Ait* 


•Tn^nptrnntrnf^fffsr 


190 


rilJ-J  JXDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


singing  then  recommence,  anii  are  continued  till  another  warrior  signifies  liis  readi- 
ness to  recite  his  deeds  of  bravery.  Hours  on  hours  are  thus  employed,  till  all  who 
wisli  have  acted  their  parts.  This  ceremony  is  called  "  striking  the  post."  In  this 
manner  the  war  spirit  is  funned.  It  is  a  forest  school,  in  which  the  young  boys  learn 
tlieir  first  lesson,  and  they  become  the  prey  of  an  ambition  which  is  never  gratified 
till  they  have  torn  the  bloody  scalp  from  an  enemy's  head. 


FKASTS   AND   FASTS. 

There  is  a  feast  instituted  at  certain  times  during  the  season  to  which  none  but 
young  pei"sons  are  invited,  except  the  entertainer's  wife,  and  generally  two  other 
aged  persons,  who  preside  at  the  feast  and  administer  its  rites.  The  object  of  this 
feast  seems  to  be  instruction,  to  which  the  young  and  thoughtless  are  induced  to  listen 
for  the  anticipated  plesisure  of  the  feast.  When  the  meats  are  ready,  the  entertainer, 
if  he  be  fluent  in  speech,  or,  if  not,  some  person  whom  he  has  invited  for  that  pur- 
])ose,  gets  up  and  addresses  the  youth  of  both  sexes  on  the  subject  of  their  course 
through  life.  He  admonishes  them  to  be  attentive  and  respectful  to  the  aged,  and 
adhere  to  their  counsel,  to  obey  tlieir  j^vi'ents,  never  to  scoff  at  the  decrepit  or 
deformed,  to  be  modest  in  their  conduct,  to  be  charitable  and  hospitable,  and  to  fear 
and  love  the  Great  Spirit,  who  is  the  giver  of  life  and  of  every  good  gift.  The  pre- 
cepts are  dwelt  upon  at  great  length,  and  generally  enforced  by  examples  of  a  good 
man  and  woman  and  a  bad  man  and  woman,  and  after  dei)ieting  the  latter  it  is  cus- 
tomary, by  way  of  admonition,  to  say,  "  You  will  be  like  one  of  these."  At  the  end 
of  every  sentence  the  listeners  make  a  general  response  of  "  haa."  When  the  advice 
is  finished,  an  address  to  the  CJreat  !^j)irit  is  made,  in  which  He  is  thanked  for  the  food 
before  them  and  for  the  continuance  of  life.  The  speaker  then  says,  turning  to  the 
guests,  "  Thus  the  Great  Spirit  suppliers  us  with  food ;  let  your  coui"se  through  life  be 
always  right,  and  you  will  ever  be  thus  bountifully  supplied." 

The  feast  then  commences,  and  the  elders  relax  their  nuinners  a  little  and  mix 
with  the  re*it,  but  are  still  careful  to  preserve  order  and  a  decent,  respectful  behavior. 

Li't  it  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  Indian's  'ife  while  on  his  wintering- 
ground  is  a  round  of  feasting ;  quite  the  contrary.  Their  feasts  are  often  followed 
by  long  and  painful  fasts ;  aiul  the  severity  of  tlie  sea.sons  and  scarcity  of  game  and 
lish  often  reduce  the  Indian  and  his  family  to  starvation  and  even  death. 

When  the  failure  of  game,  or  any  other  cause,  induces  the  hunter  to  remove  to 
a  new  circle  of  country,  the  labor  of  the  removal  falls  upon  the  female  part  of  tlie 
family.  The  lodge  utensils  and  fixtures  of  every  kind  are  borne  upon  the  women's 
backs,  stLstaincd  by  a  leather  strap  around  the  forehead.  On  reaching  the  intended 
place  of  encampment,  the  snow  is  cleared  away,  the  lod'^e  set  up,  cedar  boughs 
brought  and  spread  for  a  floor,  the  movables  stowed  away,  wood  collected,  and  a  fire 
built;  and  then,  and  not  until  then,  can  tiie  females  sit  (h)\vn  and  warm  tlieir 
feet  and  dry  their  moccasins.  If  there  be  any  provisions,  a  supper  is  cooked;  if 
there  be  none,  all  studiously  strive  to  conceal  liie  exhibition  of  the  least  eoneern  on 


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MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


191 


tliis  account,  and  seek  to  divert  their  thoughts  by  conversation  quite  foreign  to  the 
subject.  When  all  other  means  of  sustaining  life  are  gone,  the  skins  the  hunter  has 
collected  to  pay  his  debts,  or  to  purchase  new  supplies  of  clothing  and  ammunition, 
are  eaten.  They  are  prepared  by  removing  the  pelt  and  roasting  tlie  skin  until  it 
iicquires  a  certain  degree  of  crispness.  Under  all  his  suffering, .  die  pipe  of  the 
hunter  is  his  chief  solace,  and  it  is  a  solace  very  often  resorted  to.  Smoking-parties 
are  sometimes  formed  when  there  exists  a  scarcity  of  food,  the  want  of  provisions 
not  tending,  as  might  be  supposed,  to  destroy  social  feeling  and  render  the  temper 
siiur.  On  these  occasions  the  person  soliciting  company  sends  a  message  to  this 
effect :  "  My  friend,  come  and  smoke  with  me ;  I  have  no  food,  but  I  have  tobacco, 
a  11(1  we  can  pass  the  evening  very  well  with  this."  All  acknowledge  their  lives  to 
be  in  the  hands  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  feel  a  conviction  that  all  'things  come  from 
llim,  tliat  He  loves  them,  and  that,  although  He  allows  them  to  suffer,  He  will  again 
supply  them.  This  tends  to  quiet  their  apprehensions.  Fatalists  as  to  good  and  ill, 
they  submit  patiently  and  silently  to  what  they  believe  their  destiny.  When  hunger 
iuul  misery  are  past,  their  spirits  soon  revive,  and  their  minds  ate  toa  eagerly  intent 
on  the  eiyoyment  of  the  present  good  to  feel  any  depression  fVom  the  recollection  of 
what  they  have  suffered  or  from  the  anticipation  of  coming  troubles.  No  people  are 
less  clamorous  under  suffering  of  the  severest  kind,  and  none  are  more  happy,  or  more 
prone  to  evince  their  happiness,  when  prosperous  in  their  affairs. 

The  Dakotas  fiist  on  religious  principles  only  when  engaged  in  th*  worship  of 
the  sun  and  moon.  The  worship  of  the  sun  is  caused  by  some  one  having  dreamed 
of  seeing  the  sun.  The  worship  is  performed  at  intervals  of  about  four  or  five 
minutes,  by  two  young  men  in  a  very  singular  attitude.  The  two  worshippers  are 
almost  in  a  state  of  nudity, — only  a  piece  of  cloth  about  their  loins.  Each  has  a  small 
whistle  in  his  mouth,  and  faces  the  sun.  The  mode  of  dancing  is  a  kind  of  hitch 
of  first  one  leg  and  then  the  other,  but  they  keep  time  to  the  singing  and  beating 
upon  raw  hides  of  parchment.  In  their  singing  no  words  are  used :  nothing  but  the 
chorus  appropriate  to  such  occasions.  This  dance  is  kept  up  for  two  or  occasionally 
three  days,  during  which  time  the  worshippers  partake  of  no  food.  The  feast  of  the 
new  crop  is  made  for  what  we  would  term  a  thanksgiving,  but  the  Indians  apply  it 
ii'  iionor  to  their  war-medicine  and  the  medicine  used  among  themselves.  If  a  man 
makes  a  fcjist  of  new  corn,  it  is  in  honor  of  his  war-medicine.  If  a  woman  makes  a 
corn  feast,  it  is  in  honor  oi  the  medicine  they  use  among  themselves.  At  these 
feast  ,  ..  a  person  does  not  eat  all  that  is  given  him,  he  does  not  have  to  pay  for  it, 
as  is  the  case  in  some  of  their  feasts ;  on  the  contrary,  the  one  that  eats  up  his  dishful 
first  will  probably  receive  a  present,  from  the  person  who  made  the  feast,  of  a  gun, 
or  a  large  kettle,  or  some  traps.  Tliis  Ix'ing  a  common  custom  among  them,  there  is 
always  among  the  eaters  a  great  strife  to  see  who  will  cat  up  his  portion  first  and 
get  tiie  present.  As  soon  as  the  word  is  given  for  them  to  commence  eating,  the 
work  begins,  and  such  blowing,  stirring,  eating,  and  sweating  as  ensue  the  grunting 
animals  could  not  surpas**.  The  music  is  viK-al,  and  is  simply  a  chorus,  but  is  con- 
sidered sacred  among  the   Indians.     In  some  of  their   feasts  everything  is  sacri'd. 


'ii 


M»'  .'?!i 


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Mi 


192 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Not  a  morse  or  the  meat  must  fall  to  the  ground,  otherwise  the  spirits  would  be  dis- 
pleased, and  some  great  calamity  would  befall  them.  The  bones  are  all  gathered  up, 
and  either  burnt  or  thrown  into  the  water,  so  that  the  dogs  cannot  get  them,  nor  the 
women  trample  upon  them,  because  they  consider  a  woman  very  unclean  at  times, 
and  it  would  be  a  great  sin  for  her  to  step  on  or  over  any  part  of  the  remnants  of 
their  offerings.  Tobacco  is  used  in  most  of  their  ceremonies  except  the  fejists  above 
mentioned.  Its  perfuaies  are  offered  to  the  ghosts,  or  sjiirits,  on  many  occasions,  for 
good  luck  in  hunting,  for  calm  weather,  for  clear  weather,  etc. 


THE  MEDICINE-FEAST. 

This  feiist  is  a'n  ancient  custom  or  ceremony ;  it  is  accompanied  with  dancing,  and 
is  sometimes  called  the  medicine-dance.  The  members  or  communicants  of  this  feast 
constitute  a  society  having  secrets  known  only  to  the  initiated.  There  is  a  similarity 
between  the  secret  signs  used  by  the  members  of  this  society  and  those  of  Free- 
Masons  :  like  them,  they  have  a  secret  in  common  with  societies  of  the  same  order 
wherever  located,  and,  like  them,  have  different  degrees,  with  secrets  belonging  to  each 
respectively,  in  the  same  society ;  but,  unlike  Free-Masons,  they  admit  women  and 
children  to  membershij). 

They  have  no  regular  or  stivted  times  for  holding  this  feast ;  and  all  the  members 
do  not  attend  at  the  same  time,  but  only  such  as  are  invited  by  the  master  of  the 
feiist.  Persons  desirous  of  joining  this  society  will  in  some  cases  use  the  most  rigid 
economy  for  years  to  enable  them  to  lay  up  goods  to  pay  the  initiation-fee.  This 
fee  is  not  fixed  at  any  stipulated  amount ;  those  who  join  pay  according  to  their 
ability.  Sometimes  goods  to  the  amount  of  two  or  three  hundred  dollars  are  given 
by  an  individual.  Goods  for  this  purpose  generally  consist  of  blankets,  broadcloths, 
calicoes,  wampum,  and  trinkets,  and  are  given  to  the  medicine-men  who  perform  the 
ceremony  of  initiating  the  member.  When  one  or  more  persons  make  application  to 
join  the  society,  preparations  are  made  for  a  feast  and  dance,  which  is  held  in  an 
arclied  lodge,  or  bower,  constructed  of  poles  and  covered  with  tent-cloth  and  other 
materials.  The  size  of  the  bower  is  made  to  conform  to  the  number  of  persons  to  be 
invited,  and  this  number  depends  much  on  the  ability  of  the  person  who  makes  the 
foiLst.  The  width  of  a  bower  is  about  sixteen  feet,  the  length  varying  from  ten  to 
seventy-five  yards.  The  members  of  the  society  sit  on  each  side  of  the  bower,  the 
centre  being  reserved  for  dancing.  Candidates  for  admission  into  this  society  are 
rwiuired  to  fa.st  three  days  previous  to  being  initialed.  At  some  period  during  this 
fiLst  they  are  taken  by  the  old  medicine-men  to  some  secluded  secret  spot  and 
instructed  in  the  doctrines  and  mysteries  of  the  society;  and  it  is  said  that  the 
candidates  are  during  this  fast  subjected  to  a  severe  sweating  process,  by  being 
covered  with  blankets  and  stitanu'd  with  lierl)s.  The  truth  of  this  is  not  here  vouched 
for,  but  the  api)earance  of  the  candidates  when  brought  forward  to  be  initiated  in 
public  corroborates  it. 

The  public  ceremony  of  initiation  usually  Uikes  place  about  eleven  o'cR-ck  a.m. 


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MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


193 


The  public  exercises  of  dancing,  singing,  praying,  and  exhorting,  which  precede  the 
initiations,  commence  the  previous  morning.  Before  tlie  candidates  are  brought 
forward,  the  ground  through  the  centre  of  the  bower  is  carpeted  with  blankets  and 
broadcloth  laid  over  the  blankets.  The  candidates  are  then  led  forward  and  placed 
on  their  knees  upon  the  carpet  near  one  end  of  the  bower,  and  facing  the  opposite 
end.  Some  eight  or  ten  medicine-men  then  march  in  single  lile  round  the  bower 
with  their  medicine-bags  in  their  hands.  Each  time  they  perform  the  circuit  they 
halt,  and  one  of  them  makes  a  short  address ;  this  is  repeated  until  all  have  sjtoken. 
They  then  form  a  circle,  and  lay  their  medicine-bags  on  the  carpet  before  them. 
Then  they  commence  retching  and  making  efforts  to  vomit,  bending  over  until  their 
hi'acls  come  nearly  in  contact  with  their  medicine-bags,  on  which  they  vomit,  or 
deposit  from  their  mouth,  a  small  white  sea-shell  about  the  size  of  a  bean ;  this  they 
call  the  medicine-stone,  and  claim  that  it  is  carried  in  the  stomach  and  vomited  up 
on  these  occasions.  These  stones  they  put  in  the  mouth  of  their  medicine-bags,  and 
take  their  position  at  the  end  of  the  bower  opposite  to  and  facing  the  candidates. 
They  then  advance  in  line,  as  many  abreast  as  there  are  candidates ;  holding  their 
medicine-bags  before  them  with  both  hands,  they  dance  forward  slowly  at  first,  and 
uttering  low  guttural  sounds  as  they  approach  the  candidates,  their  step  and  voice 
increasing  in  energy,  until  with  a  violent  "  Ough !"  they  thrust  their  medicine-bags 
at  their  breasts.  Instantly,  at,  if  struck  with  an  electric  shock,  the  candidates  fall 
prostrate  on  their  faces,  their  limbs  extended,  their  muscles  rigid  and  quivering  in 
every  fibre.  Blankets  are  now  thrown  over  them,  and  they  are  sufl  red  to  lie  thus  a 
few  moments :  as  soon  as  they  show  signs  of  recovering  from  the  shock,  they  are 
insisted  to  their  feet  and  led  forward.  Medicine-bags  are  then  put  in  their  hands, 
and  medicine-stones  in  their  mouths ;  they  are  now  medicine-men  or  women,  as  the 
ea.se  may  l)e,  in  full  communion  and  fellowship.  The  new  members,  in  company 
with  the  old,  now  go  round  the  bower  in  single  file,  knocking  raembera  down  pro- 
miscuously by  thrusting  their  medicine-bags  at  them.  Afler  continuing  this  exer- 
cise for  some  time,  refreshments  are  brought  in,  of  which  they  all  partake.  Dog's 
llcsh  is  always  a  component  part  of  the  dish  served  on  these  occasions.  Atler  pur- 
taking  of  the  feast,  they  generally  continue  the  dance  and  other  exercises  for  several 
hours.  The  drum  and  rattle  are  the  musical  instruments  used  at  this  feast.  The 
most  perfect  order  and  decorum  are  observed  throughout  the  entire  ceremony.  The 
members  of  this  society  are  remarkably  strict  in  their  attendance  at  this  feast: 
notliing  but  sickness  is  admitted  as  an  excuse  for  not  eomjdying  with  an  invitation 
to  attend.  Members  sometimes  travel  fifty  miles,  and  even  farther,  to  be  present  at 
a  fea-st,  when  invited.  The  secret  of  the  society  is  kept  sacred.  It  is  remarkable 
that  neither  want  nor  a  thirst  for  whiskey  will  tempt  the  members  of  this  society  to 
part  with  their  medicine-bags.  AVliether  those  medicine-men  jKissess  the  secret  of 
mesmerism  or  magnetic  influence,  or  whether  the  whole  system  is  a  humbug  and 
imposition,  is  difficult  to  determine.  A  careful  observer  of  the  ceremonies  of  this 
order  for  six  years  has  been  unable  to  detect  the  imjwsition,  if  there  be  one ;  and  it 
is  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  an  imposition  of  this  character  couUl  be  practised  for 

l>5 


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194 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


centuries  without  detection.     Tliere  is  no  doubt  that  the  tribe  generally  believe  that 
their  medicine-men  possess  grout  jmwor. 

The  feast  of  Mundamin,  represented  in  the  accompanying,  drawing,  is  strictly  an 
offer  of  fir8t-fruit«  to  the  power  which  has  caused  their  growth  and  perfection.  The 
ceremonies  begin  with  the  gathering  of  the  corn  from  the  field.  It  is  then  conveyed 
to  the  lodge.  It  is  boiled  in  water  and  then  served  up  in  the  ear  to  the  invited  guests, 
after  having  been  duly  offered  to  the  Groat  Spirit  in  thankfulness  and  with  an  appro- 
priate address.  Each  guest  bruigs  his  own  dish,  and  retires  backwards  to  the  door, 
whence  he  proceeds  to  his  own  lodge  with  the  food  he  has  received.  This  is  the 
ceremony  culled  "  liusk"  by  the  Creeks, 


i! 


.     SPORTS  AND   PASTIMES. — DISCOIDAL  STONES.        "  \ 

Games  of  various  character  have  attracted  the  Indian  tribes  from  the  earliest 
notices  we  have  of  them.  Some  of  tlu-se  games  are  of  a  domestic  character,  or  such 
as  arc  usually  played  in  the  wigwam  or  domicile.  Of  this  kind  are  the  game  of 
hunting  the  moccasin,  the  gume  of  the  bowl,  and  sundry  minor  games  known  to  the 
Algonkins,  the  Cherokees,  and  other  tribes.  But  by  far  the  greater  number  of  games 
practised  by  the  North  American  Indians  are  of  an  athletic  character,  and  are  de- 
signed to  nourish  and  promote  activity  of  limb  and  manual  expertness  in  the  field  or 
on  the  green.  Such  arc  the  various  ball-plays  and  wrestling  and  running  matches 
which  whole  tribes  are  a.sserabled  to  witness  and  participate  in.  To  run  swiftly,  to 
fend  adroitly  with  the  baton,  to  strike  or  catch,  to  lift  great  weights,  to  throw  stones, 
to  shoot  darts,  to  dance  with  spirit, — in  short,  to  exhibit  any  extraordinary  feat  of 
agility,  strength,  or  endurance  in  mimic  strife,  has  ever  been  held  to  be  among  the 
principal  objects  of  applause,  especially  in  the  young.  It  is,  indeed,  in  these  sports 
that  the  elements  of  war  are  learned,  and  it  is  hence  that  excellence  in  these  feats  is 
universally  held  up  to  admiration  in  the  oral  recitals  of  the  deeds  of  their  heroes  and 
prodigies.  Mauabozho  excelled  in  his  superhuman  and  godlike  feats,  and  killed  the 
mammotli  serpent  and  bear-king.  Papukewis  could  turn  pirouettes  until  he  raised  a 
wliirlwind,  and  Kwiisind  could  twist  off  the  stoutest  rope.  These  things  are  related 
to  stimulate  the  physical  powers  of  the  young,  and  there  is  not  a  tribe  in  the  land, 
whose  customs  we  know,  of  whom  it  is  not  a  striking  trait  to  favor  the  acquisition  of 
skill  in  games  and  amusements.  Among  these  field-sports  the  CJtsting  of  stones  is 
one  of  tiie  most  ready  and  natural  traits  of  savage  tribes.  With  such  accuracy  is 
this  done  that  it  is  astonishing  with  what  skill  and  precision  an  Indian  will  hurl 
stones  at  any  object. 

The  numerous  dLscoidal  stones  that  are  found  in  the  tumuli,  and  at  the  sites  of 
ancient  occupancy  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  serve  to  denote  that  this  anuisement  was 
practised  among  the  earlier  tribes  of  that  Valley  at  the  Mound  period.  These  anticpu; 
quoits  are  made  with  great  labor  and  skill  from  very  hard  and  heavy  pieces  of  stone. 
They  are  generally  exact  disks,  of  a  concave  surfaee,  with  an  orifice  in  the  centre, 
and  a  broad  rim.     A  specimen  now  ix'fore  us,  from  une  of  the  smaller  tunnili  at 


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MANNHIiS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


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Grave  Creek  Flats,  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  is  wrought  from  a  solid  piece  of  porphyry. 
It  is  three  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter,  with  a  thickness  of  one  and  five-tenths 
inches.  Tiie  perforation  is  half  an  inch,  and  the  rim,  forming  the  disk,  a  small 
fraction  under  the  same.  The  object  of  hurling  such  an  instrument  was  manifestly 
to  cover  an  upright  pin  or  peg  driven  into  the  ground.  Whether,  like  the  ancient 
Greeks  in  hurling  their  discus,  a  string  was  used  to  give  additional  velocity  and 
direction  to  its  motion,  cannot  be  stated. 


BALL-PLAYIXG. 


This  game  is  i^ayed  by  the  Northwestern  Indians  in  the  winter  season,  after  the 
winter  hunts  are  over,  and  during  summer,  when,  the  game  being  unlit  to  kill,  they 
amuse  themselves  with  athletic  sports,  games  of  chance,  dances,  and  war.  The  game 
is  played  by  two  parties,  not  necessarily  equally  divided  in  numbers,  but  usually 
one  village  against  another,  or  one  large  village  may  challenge  two  or  three  smaller 
ones  to  the  combat.  When  a  challenge  is  accejHed,  a  day  is  ajipointed  to  play  the 
game,  ball-bats  are  made,  and  each  party  assembles  its  whole  force  of  old  men,  young 
men,  and  boys.  The  women  never  play  in  the  same  game  with  the  men.  Heavy 
bets  are  made  by  individuals  of  the  opposite  sides.  Horses,  guns,  blankets,  buffalo- 
rol)es,  kettles,  and  trinkets  are  freely  staked  on  the  result  of  the  game.  When  the 
parties  are  assembled  on  the  ground,  two  stakes  are  placed  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
apart,  and  the  game  commences  midway  between  them,  the  object  of  each  party  being 
to  get  the  ball  beyond  the  limits  of  its  ojij)onents.  The  game  commences  by  one  of 
tile  old' men  throwing  the  ball  in  the  air,  when  all  rush  forward  to  catch  it  in  their 
l>idl-bats  before  or  after  it  falls  to  the  giound.  The  one  who  catches  it  throws  it  in 
the  direction  of  the  goal  of  the  opposing  party,  when,  if  it  be  caught  by  one  of  the 
same  side,  it  is  contimied  in  that  direction,  and  so  on  until  it  is  thrown  beyond  the 
limits,  Itut  if  caught  by  an  opponent  it  is  thrown  back  in  the  opposite  direction.  In 
this  way  the  ball  is  often  kept  all  day  between  the  two  boizndarics,  neither  jiarty 
being  able  to  get  it  beyond  the  limits  of  the  other.  Wlien  one  has  caught  the  ball  he 
has  the  right,  before  throwing  it,  to  run  towards  the  .'iniits  until  he  is  overtaken  by 
the  other  party,  when,  being  com])elled  to  throw  it,  he  endeavors  to  send  it  in  the 
(iinrtion  of  some  of  his  own  party,  to  be  caught  by  some  one  of  them,  who  continues 
sending  it  in  the  same  direetion.  If  a  village  or  party  get  the  ball  over  the  eastern 
lioiindary,  tliey  change  sides,  and  the  next  tinn*  they  have  to  try  and  get  it  over  tiie 
western  boundary  ;  so  if  the  same  party  propel  it  over  the  western  boundary,  they 
win  one  game,  and  anotlier  bet  is  played  foi'.  When  the  t)all  is  seen  Hying  through 
the  iiir  there  is  a  great  shout  and  hurrah  by  the  spectators.  The  players  sometimes 
piek  it  up  and  run  over  the  lines  without  being  overtaken  by  ajiy  of  the  v)pposite 
party.  Then  a  great  shout  is  raised  again  to  urge  on  the  players.  This  game  is 
very  laborious,  and  oeeasionally  the  participants  in  it  receive  some  hard  blows,  either 
from  the  club  or  the  ball. 

Plate  "»■)  represents  a  ball-jday  on  the  ice.     The  young  mar  has  the  ball  in  his 


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THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


ball-bat,  and  is  running  with  it  towards  the  limits  of  the  other  side,  pursued  by  all 
the  players. 

Plate  56  represents  a  ball-play  on  the  prairies  in  summer.  The  ball  is  on  the 
ground,  and  all  are  rushing  forward  to  catch  it  with  tlieir  ball-bats,  not  being  allowed 
to  touch  it  with  their  hands. 

The  ball  is  carved  from  a  knot,  or  made  of  baked  clay  covered  with  raw  deer- 
hide.  The  ball-bat  is  from  three  to  four  feet  long,  one  end  bent  up  in  a  circular 
form  about  four  inches  in  diameter,  in  which  is  a  net-work  made  of  raw-hide  or 
sinews  of  the  deer  or  buffalo. 

V 

GAMES  OF  CHANCE. 

One  of  the  principal  amusements  of  a  sedentary  character  which  our  tribes 
practise  is  that  of  various  games  in  which  success  depends  on  the  luck  of  numbers. 
These  games,  to  which  both  the  prairie  and  the  forest  tribes  are  addicted,  assume  the 
fascination  and  intensity  of  interest  of  gambling,  and  the  most  valued  articles  are 
often  staked  on  the  result  of  a  throw.  For  this  purpose  the  prairie  tribes  commonly 
use  the  stone  of  the  wild  plum  or  some  analogous  fruit,  upon  which  various  devices 
indicating  their  arithmetical  value  are  burned  in,  or  engraved  and  colored,  so  as  to 
reveal  at  a  glance  the  character  of  the  pieces.  Among  the  Dakota  tribes  this  is 
known  by  a  term  which  is  translated  "the  game  of  the  plum-stones"  {kun-tah-soo) . 

A  representation  of  this  universally  popular  game  is  given  in  Piute  57.  There 
are  five  sets  of  stones.     Each  set  consists  of  eight  pieces. 

To  play  this  game,  a  little  hole  is  made  in  the  ground  and  a  skin  put  in  it.  It 
is  alst-  played  on  a  robe.  Tlio  woi  uui  and  young  men  play.  T  o  bowl  is  lifted 
witli  one  liand  about  three  or  four  inches,  and  pushed  suddenly  down  to  its  place. 
The  j)lum-ritones  fly  over  several  times,  and  the  count,  as  in  all  games  of  chance,  is 
advanced  or  retarded  by  the  luck  of  the  throw.  The  stake  is  ilrst  put  up  by  ail 
who  \y\s\i  to  play.  A  dozen  can  play  at  once.  Seven  is  the  game.  Sometimes  they 
throw  the  whole  count ;  at  other  times  they  throw  twice  or  thrice,  but  frequently 
miss,  and  the  next  one  takts  fhs  dish.  The  dish  which  they  play  in  is  round,  and 
will  hold  about  two  quarts.  Women  play  this  game  more  than  the  men,  and  often 
lose  all  their  trinkcis  at  it. 

The  game  of  moccasins  is  practised  by  the  men,  and  large  bets  are  made.  In 
this  game  they  tivke  sides,  one  party  playing  against  the  other.  One  side  will  sing, 
whilst  one  man  of  the  other  party  hides  the  ball  in  a  moccasin.  There  are  three 
mocciu^ins  used  for  the  purpose.  The  man  takes  the  ball  or  stick  between  his  thumb 
and  forefinger,  slips  it  froJii  one  moccasin  to  another  several  tinuM,  leaves  it  in  one 
of  *'"em,  and  then  stops, — something  like  thimble-play.  The  jmrty  that  has  been 
singing  hius  to  guess  in  which  moccasin  the  bull  is,  for  which  purpose  one  man  is 
chosen.  If  he  guesses  where  the  boll  is  the  first  time,  he  loses.  Should  the  ball  not 
be  in  the  mocciisin  that  he  guesses  the  Ihst  time,  he  can  try  again.  lie  has  now  to 
guess  which  one  of  the  two  remaining  moccasins  the  bull  is  in.     If  he  is  successful, 


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MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


197 


he  wins ;  if  not,  he  loses.  So  they  have  only  one  chance  in  two  of  winning.  When 
one  side  loses,  the  winning  side  gives  up  tlio  moccasins  to  the  other  party,  that  they 
may  try  their  luck  awhile  at  hiding  the  ball.  They  have  no  high  numbers  in  the 
game. 

A  more  complicated  mode  of  reliance  on  the  luck  of  numbers  is  found  in  the 
Chippewa  game  of  the  Bowl,  called  Puffgtming.  It  is  played  with  thirteen  pieces, 
nine  of  which  are  formed  of  bone  and  four  of  brass,  all  of  circular  shape.  Eight 
of  the  bone  pieces  are  stained  rM  on  the  right  side,  with  edges  and  dots  burned 
black  with  a  hot  iron ;  the  reverse  is  left  white.  The  brass  pieces  have  the  right  side 
convex  and  the  reverse  concave.  The  convex  surface  is  bright,  the  concave  surface 
dark  or  dull. 

The  game  is  won  by  the  red  pieces,  the  arithmetical  value  of  each  of  which  is 
fixed.  Any  number  of  players  may  take  j)art  in  the  game.  Nothing  is  required 
but  a  wootlen  bowl,  which  is  curiously  carved  and  ornamented  (the  owner  relying 
somewhat  on  magic  influence)  and  has  a  plain,  smooth  surface. 

The  Indians  now  play  cards  mostly  for  beta  and  amusement.  Some  play  away 
everything  they  possess  except  their  wives  and  children.  They  are  never  known 
to  gamble  them  away. 

DANCING. 

Dancing  is  a  national  trait,  and  is  a  part  of  the  religious,  social,  and  military 
system  of  the  tribes. 

The  war-dance  is  celebrated  before  starting  on  a  war-path ;  but  although  a  tribe 
may  not  for  several  years  have  been  engaged  in  war,  this  dance  is  kept  up,  and 
frequently  practised.  The  object  of  this  seems  to  be  the  same  as  that  sought  to  be 
effected  by  martial  nuisic  and  military  reviews  among  the  whites, — naniely,  to  keep 
alive  a  martial  spirit,  and  "  in  peace  prei)aro  for  war."  The  old  warriors  sometimes 
join  this  dance,  but  usually  only  the  middle-aged  and  young  men  engjige  in  it ; 
occiwionally  boys  are  allowe<l  to  participate.  Women  do  not  engage  in  the  war-dance, 
but  encourage  it  by  their  presence  as  spectators.  The  dancers  appear  in  their  war- 
oostume,  with  a  we!iix>n,  or  something  to  represent  a  weapon,  in  their  hands.  The 
nnisicians  are  seated  around  a  flag  in  the  centre :  the  music  consists  of  drums,  rattles, 
and  singing.  Wben  the  music  commences,  the  dancers  spring  into  the  ring  and 
dance  promiscuously,  brandishing  their  wea|)ons  and  making  menacing  gestures. 
Tills  exercise  is  violent,  and  cannot  be  long  sustained  without  rest.  Occasionally 
a  warrior  will  step  forward  and  go  through  a  pantomime  of  the  discovery,  ambus- 
cade, attack,  killing,  and  scalping  of  an  enemy ;  another  will  give  a  history  of  his 
exj)loits,  and  accximpany  the  recital  with  aj)propriate  gestures. 

When  an  officer  of  the  government,  or  any  «llstlngulshed  person,  visits  their 
village,  they  assemble  and  dance ;  this  is  done  ostensibly  as  an  honor  to  the  visitor, 
but  in  reality  with  the  exi)ectati()n  of  receiving  a  present. 

The  scalp-dance  affords  a  striking  Illustration  of  the  vindictive  and  bloodthirsty 
spirit  of  the  savage,  and  the  means  by  which  this  spirit  Is  imblbetl  by  and  cherishetl  in 


1     I 


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198 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TllK   UNITED  STATES. 


their  children.  At  an  occurrence  of  tliis  kind  witnessed  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft  in  1861 
among  the  Cliippewas,  the  scalps  of  a  murdered  Sioux  family  were  hung  up  on 
sticks  set  in  the  ground,  and  men,  women,  and  children  danced  around  them ;  occa- 
sionally the  women  and  children  would  take  a  scalp  and  carry  it  round  the  ring. 
This  dance  was  continued  for  hours,  with  great  excitement.  One  of  the  Chippewaa 
had  killed  his  man  with  a  spear ;  finding  it  diflicult  to  extricate  his  weapon  on  account 
of  the  barb,  he  cut  out  a  piece  of  flesh  with  his  knife,  and  brought  it  home,  still 
adhering  to  the  spear :  this  flesh  was  cut  in  pieces  and  given  to  the  boys,  who  ate 
it  raw. 

The  funeral-dance  is  performed  at  the  grave  when  a  sacrifice  is  made  for  the  dead. 
They  dance  around  the  grave  to  the  music  of  the  drum  and  singing. 

The  pipe-dance  and  otlu3r  convivial  dances  are  joined  in  with  spirit  and  glee  by 
both  old  and  young.  The  women  in  dancing  have  but  one  motion :  they  spring  on 
the  toes,  both  feet  together,  the  body  erect,  and  hands  by  the  side.  The  men  bound 
on  the  right  and  left  foot  alternately,  with  the  body  slightly  bent  forward. 


DOG-DANCE  OF  THE   DAKOTA   INDIANS. 

This  dance  is  peculiar  to  the  Dakota  tribe,  and  takes  its  name  from  the  fact  that 
the  raw  liver  of  the  dug  is  eaten  by  the  perforqiers.  It  is  not  often  i)erformed,  and 
only  on  some  extraordinary  occasion.  The  performers  are  usually  the  bravest  war- 
riors of  the  tribe,  and  those  having  stomachs  strong  enough  to  digest  raw  food. 
When  a  dog-dance  is  to  be  given,  the  warriors  who  arc  to  take  part  in  it,  and  all 
others  who  desire  to  witness  it,  assemble  at  some  stated  time  and  place.  After  they 
have  talked  and  smoked  for  a  while,  the  dance  commences.  A  dog  with  his  legs 
pinioned  is  thrown  into  the  group  of  dancers  by  one  of  the  spectators.  This  is 
despatched  by  one  of  the  medicine-men,  or  jugglers,  with  a  war-club  or  tomahawk. 
The  side  of  the  animal  is  then  cut  open,  and  the  liver  taken  out.  This  is  cut  into 
strips  and  hung  on  a  pole  about  four  or  five  feet  in  length.  The  performers  now 
begin  to  dance  around  the  pole,  smacking  their  lips  and  making  all  sorts  of  grimuces, 
showing  a  great  desire  to  get  a  taste  of  the  delicious  morsel.  After  performing  these 
antics  for  a  while,  one  of  them  will  make  a  grab  at  the  liver,  biting  off  a  piece,  and 
thou  hop  off,  chewing  and  swallowing  it  as  he  goes.  His  example  is  followed  by 
all  the  other  warriors  until  every  morsel  of  the  liver  is  eaten.  Should  any  par- 
ticles of  it  fall  to  the  ground,  they  are  collected  by  a  medicine-man  in  the  palm  of  his 
hand,  who  carries  it  round  to  the  dancers  to  be  eaten  and  his  hands  well  licked. 
After  disjwsing  of  the  first  dog,  they  all  sit  down  in  a  circle  and  chat  and  smoke 
awhile  until  another  dog  is  thrown  in,  when  the  same  ceremonies  ire  re{)eated,  to  be 
continued  so  long  as  any  one  is  disposed  to  present  them  with  a  dog.  They  are  re- 
quired to  eat  the  liver,  raw  and  warm,  of  every  dog  that  is  presented  to  them  ;  and 
while  they  are  eating  it,  none  but  the  medicine-men  must  touch  it  with  their  hands. 
Women  do  not  join  in  this  dance.  The  object  of  this  ceremony  is,  they  say,  that 
those  who  eat  the  liver  of  the  dog  while  it  is  raw  and  warm  shall  become  possessed 


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MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


199 


of  the  sagacity  and  bravery  of  the  dog.     The  Ojibwas,  the  tribe  bordering  on  the 
Dakotas,  and  their  liereditary  enemies,  look  with  disgust  on  this  ceremony. 


BUOAE-MAKING.  .      ■<    .. 

As  the  spring  season  approaches,  and  the  cap  begins  to  ascend  the  still  leafless 
trunks  of  the  acer  saccharinum,  or  sugar-maple,  the  Indian  families  throughout  the 
northern  and  middle  latitudes  repair  to  their  sugar-camps,  and  engage  in  preparing 
that,  to  them,  favorite  luxury.  The  sap  is  carried  in  bark  buckets,  and  boiled  down 
in  kettles  of  iron  or  tin.  This  labor  devolves  chiefly  on  the  females.  It  forms  a  sort 
of  Indian  carnival.  The  article  is  profusely  eaten  by  all  of  every  age,  and  a  quan- 
tity is  put  up  for  sale  in  boxes  made  from  the  white  birch  bark,  which  are  called 
mococks,  or  mokuks.  These  sugar-boxes  are  in  the  shape  of  tlie  lower  section  of  a 
quadrangular  pyramid.  They  are  of  a  light-brown  color,  or,  if  new,  of  a  nankeen- 
yellow.  While  the  careful  and  industrious  wife  prepares  and  fills  these  boxes  for 
sale,  the  children  and  youth  carry  sap  from  the  trees,  and  have  a  grand  frolic  among 
themselves,  boiling  candy  and  pouring  it  out  oi;  the  snow  to  cool,  and  gambolling 
about  on  the  frozen  surface  with  the  wildest  delight.  Their  mothers  supply  them, 
too,  with  miniature  mokuks,  filled  with  sugar  from  the  first  runniugs  of  the  sap, 
which  make  the  choicest  sugar.  These  little  mokuks  •  re  ornamented  with  dyed 
porcupine-quills,  skilfully  wrought  in  the  shape  of  flowers  and  figures.  The  boxes 
designed  for  sale  are  of  various  sizes,  ranging  in  capacity  from  twenty  to  seventy 
[nnuids.  The  number  of  these  boxes  made  in  a  single  season  by  an  industrious  and 
Ktrong-handed  family  is  known  to  be  from  thirty  to  forty,  in  addition  to  all  the 
si'f^ar  that  hiis  been  consumed.  It  is  seldom  less  than  a  dozen  or  twenty  boxes  to 
tlie  family,  and  the  average  yield  nay  be  put  between  twenty-five  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  in  trade. 

The  heyday  scenes  of  the  Scensibaukwut,  of  sugar-making,  crown  the  labors  of 
the  spring.  The  pelt  of  animals  is  now  out  of  season,  winter  has  ended  with  all  its 
rigors,  and  the  setting-in  of  warm  weather  prepares  the  Indian  mind  for  a  season 
of  hilarity  and  feasting,  for  which  the  sale  of  his  "golden  mokuks"  gives  him  some 
means.  It  is  now  that  religious  observances  are  in  order.  The  Medawin,  the 
Ji'sukawin,  and  the  Wabeno  societies  assemble.  Feasts  ar .  given  iis  long  as  their 
means  last.  The  sounds  of  the  drum  and  the  rattle  echo  through  their  villages. 
Tli(*  streams,  loosened  from  their  icy  fetters,  utter  a  deeper  murmur,  the  forests  are 
decked  with  the  leafy  clothing  which  fits  tiiem  for  purposes  of  concealment,  and  the 
Int'ian  mind  prepares  itself  for  renewing  its  darling  schemes  of  war. 


CXJSTUME. 

It  is  in  these  fetes  that  the  Indian  nations  should  bo  seen  if  one  would  acquire  a 
correct  idea  of  their  national  costumes  and  of  tlieir  customs,  and  not  in  their  wars, 
in  'vhich  their  universal  custom  is,  from  a  fixed  prineiple,  to  make  themselves  appear 


;"      II 


^\ 


7r 


I  i    - 


200 


TJIE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


hideous  and  t'^rrible.  See  the  Sioux  and  tlu  Chippewaa  in  the  field  of  battle,  it  is 
difficult  to  distinguish  one  from  the  other ;  see  them  in  their  civil  or  religious  fetes, 
and  they  cannot  be  mistaken  one  for  the  other. 

The  dress  of  tlie  tribes  is  changeable,  and  dependent  on  climate.  The  skins  of 
the  beaver  and  fine-furred  animals  were  extensively  used  in  the  North  at  the  period 
of  the  first  planting  of  the  colonies ;  and  it  often  so  happened  that  an  Indian  was 
thus  clothed  at  an  expense  which  would  have  covered  him  with  the  finest  and  richest 
broadcloths.  Deer-skins  furnished  the  clothing  in  deer-yielding  districts,  and  the 
dressed  skins  of  the  buffalo  ditl  the  same  throughout  the  latitudes  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, reaching  from  about  32°  to  52°  N. 

Throughout  the  plains  and  level  forests  of  the  tropical  and  southern  latitudes  of 
North  America  the  Indian  wears  little  or  no  clothing  during  a  large  part  of  the 
year.  But  it  is  different  on  the  eminenccb  elevated  thousands  of  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  also  very  different  as  the  observer  extends  his  views  over  the  temperate  zone. 
Nudity,  where  it  is  asserted  of  tribes  within  the  present  area  of  the  United  States,  as 
is  done  by  De  Bry  of  the  Virginia  Indians,  implied  generally  uncovered  limbs  and 
body.  But  it  permitted  the  azian,  or  loin-cloth,  a  necklace  of  shells,  claws,  or  wam- 
I)um,  feathers  on  the  head,  anil  armlets,  as  well  as  ear-  and  nose-jewels.  The  Pow- 
hatanese  women  had,  if  nothing  else,  a  short  fringed  kirtle  of  buckskin ;  the  bust 
was  nude,'  but  this  was  doubtless  only  the  sumhicr  costume. 

But  even  in  summer  the  Northern  Indians  were  less  scantily  clothed.  The  skins 
of  beasts  were  adapted  to  every  purpose  of  garment,  and  the  severity  of  winter  was 
averted  by  the  richest  and  warmest  fure.  Commerce  immediately  altered  this,  and 
Umght  the  Indian  the  wastefulness  of  wearing  skins  and  })eltrie8,  one  tithe  of  the 
market-price  of  which  would  clothe  him  in  woollen. 

Moccasins  have  stood  their  ground  as  a  part  of  the  Indian  costume  with  more 
entire  success  against  European  innovution  than  ])erhaps  any  other  part  of  the 
aboriginal  dress.  They  are  made  of  buckskin  or  buffhlo-skin,  dressed  and  smoked 
af\cr  the  Indian  fashion.  The  skin  is  then  maceraf«('  and  dressed  with  the  brains  of 
the  animal,  till  the  harslicr  projKirties  are  well  discharged,  and  it  is  brought  U)  a  soft, 
smooth,  and  pliant  otJite.  If  it  is  designed  for  a  bride's  moccasins,  or  to  be  worn  by 
fomales  on  some  ceremonial  occiisions,  and  to  be  ornamented  with  porcupine-quills 
and  ribl>ons,  the  dressing  is  continued  till  it  is  as  soft  and  white  as  the  finest  white 
dre»ssed  doe-skin;  but  'f  intended  fur  ordinary  use,  it  is  smoked,  and  brought  b\  lie 
pyroligneous  j>ro}wrties  of  the  smoke  to  a  brown  color  and  conipait  texture,  in  which 
state  it  is  fitted  the  better  to  reiH"!  moisture.  This  smoking  is  effected  by  burning 
hard -wood  chips  in  a  smouldering  fire,  in  the  bottom  of  an  orifice  dug  in  the  ground, 
the  skin  being  su.sjjended  by  a  light  frame  around  and  above  the  orifice. 

There  is  a  fa-siiion  in  the  cut,  closing,  am!  pncker  of  the  shoe  which  denotes  the 
<lifTerent  tribes.  As  a  general  remark,  the  puckered  toe  is  indicati^'e  of  the  Iroquois 
and  the  Dakota  stocks  and  the  Missiuiri  tribes  generally.    In  the  Algonkin  nhoe,  and 


'  De  Brj'«  Drawings. 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


201 


particularly  in  that  of  the  Cliippewas,  the  pucker  is  very  finely  dran-n  and  covered 
with  ornamental  quill-work.  No  attempt  haa  been  observed  in  any  of  the  United 
States  or  British-American  tribes  to  macerate  their  skins  in  decoctions  of  oak,  chest- 
nut, or  hemlock  bark,  with  a  view  to  thicken  or  solidify  the  fibre,  or  to  do  anything 
towards  the  important  art  of  tanning.  Yet  they  are  acquainted  with  the  stringent 
principle  of  these  barks,  ^3  we  observe  in  some  rude  and  harsh  attempts  to  apply 
them  modically.  Indeed,  the  moccasin  and  the  legging  of  skins  constitute  one  of  the 
most  characteristic  arts  of  the  true  hunter  state. 

The  buckskin  legging,  the  "leather-stocking"  of  popular  American  literature, 
prevailed  over  the  continent  at  the  respective  periods  of  tribal  discovery,  and  is  in 
use  at  present  among  all  our  hunter  tribes.  It  is  by  far  the  most  durable  and  appro- 
priate article  for  the  purpose  known,  being  as  light  as  it  is  strong.  It  resists  the 
rough  wear  and  tear  of  the  woodman's  and  hunter's  life  better  than  any  fabric  which 
has  been  substituted  for  it.  The  legging  designed  for  males  is  made  precisely  the 
length  of  the  leg,  the  outer  seam  being  cut  so  a*"  to  embrace  the  hip.  When  thus 
drawn  on,  it  is  fastened  by  strings  of  *he  same  material  to  a  main  cord  or  abdominal 
tie.  The  female  legying  has  no  such  appendage.  It  reaches  a  little  below  the  knee, 
where  it  is  fastenpil  by  a  garter.'  Both  kinds  reach  down  closely  on  the  moccasin, 
where  they  are  fastened  on  the  ankle,  so  that  the  convex  part  of  the  leg  is  quite  cov- 
ered, and  the  rain  and  snow  are  kept  out.  Ornaments  and  fringes  are  permitted, 
agreeably  to  the  size.  The  female  legging  is  ornamented  only  at  the  bottom.  The 
male  legging  is  fringed  and  ornamented  nearly  its  entire  length.  There  is  generally 
what  is  designed  as  a  military  stripe,  of  quill-work,  reaching  from  the  ankle  half-wr.y 
up  the  thigh.  To  give  firmne.s.s,  and  serve  at  the  same  time  for  ornament,  a  colored 
wdrsted  ta.s.st'lled  garter  is  tied  below  the  knot'.  At  this  point  hawks'  bell?  are 
attached,  which  produce  a  tinkling  sound  in  walking.  In  female  hybrids  of  Indian 
blood  who  have  been  educated  and  introduced  to  the  refinements  of  drawing-room 
life  ihtre  is  often  found  some  recognition  of,  or  lingering  taste  for,  some  particular 
il-Min^s  of  the  native  costume.  There  is  worn  by  them  a  specios  of  pantalet,  the 
■  1  111  ute  fot  the  legging,  which  is  made  of  thin  Italian  black  silk,  drawn  over  the 
s'    .:  A'./  and  slipiwr,  and  tied  in  graceful  folds,  gathered  below  the  knee. 

','  a»*  hirts,  war-coats,  and  mantles  for  use  on  ceremonial  occasions  are  often 
mativ  coin  the  skins  of  the  fiercest  and  most  renowned  animals  captured  in  the 
i']ui.'*e.  l>eer-skin  and  dressed  buffalo-skin  constitute  their  ordinary  materials.  They 
are  elaborately  wrought  and  profusely  ornanieuted.  In  this  department  dyed  por- 
cuitine-quills,  -woet  grass,  and  colored  hair  are  chiefly  employed.  The  favorite  colors 
in  the  ornaments  of  their  dressiM  are  bright  red  and  blue.  At  the  treaty  of  Prairie 
(iu  Cliicn,  on  the  Upper  Mississippi,  in  1J32"),  a  great  variety  of  these  dresses  were 
cxiiibited.     None,  however,  exceeded  in  majestical  style  the  robe  of  a  Yankton  chief. 


M-^ 


i  '.VJ 


(  .!  ' 


'fit 


\i  \l 


i    tl 


'  In  the  (luintinj;  of  Pocniionlas,  in  tlio  rotunda  of  t1u>  Oapitol,  tho  sister  of  tlio  licroino  is  rcprcscntod 
'.<t\>.>f:  o!<  \\t:  floor,  will)  u  luun's  li'^gin^v'  roiiohin>j;  tlio  ontiru  ien^tii  of  iier  linilis,  tinj  tied  in  tiio  uiulo  fubliion 
lui.uii  .  li.'i  l)i)(iy.     Notliing  could  be  nioro  erroneous  in  respeet  to  Iiuiiun  t'o.stuiuc. 

2G 


r 


I         i     ,'y 


202 


TBE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


from  the  Minnesota  River,  who  was  called  Wanita.  He  was  a  remarkably  tall 
man,  with  features  that  might  have  done  honor  to  any  of  the  Eoman  emperors  of 
early  periods  as  we  see  them  figured  on  coins.  He  was  clothed  in  a  war-robe  of 
buft'-colored  buflfalo-skin,  ornamented  with  porcupine-quills  brilliantly  dyed.  This 
garment  reached  to  his  feet.  He  had  bunches  of  red  horse-hair  tied  above  his 
elbows.  His  moccasins  had  appendages  of  the  skin  of  the  hystrix,  which  dangled 
at  his  heels.  He  carried  gracefUUy  a  highly-ornamented  Bioux  pipe-handle  four 
fct  in  length. 

Nothing,  however,  creates  so  much  pride,  or  receives  such  elaborate  attention,  or 
is  purchased  at  such  a  cost,  as  the  head-gear  in  which  a  chief  or  warrior  presents 
hiinself.  Taking  his  ideas  probably  from  the  male  species  of  the  feathered  creation, 
which  are  decorated  by  nature  "ifh  the  brightest  and  most  gaudy  colors,  he  devotes 
the  greatest  attention  to  this  |    i  V^nd  the  result  is  almost  as  various  as  these 

species,  so  far  as  respects  form  anu  .     The  primary  point  aimed  at  is  to  denote 

his  prowess  and  standing  in  war.  T.  _  scale  by  which  this  merit  is  measured  has 
been  mentionetl.  But  this  mode  of  denoting  a  specific  honor  does  not  interfere  with 
or  prevent  persons  from  j)reparing  a  highly-ornamented  head-dress.  The  feathers 
of  the  eagle  are  generally  chosen  for  the  purpose.  Sometimes  there  is  a  fillet  of 
colored  skins,  with  a  feather  of  honor  attiiche^l.  Horns  are  often  fiistened  to  this. 
These  are  j-ymbolical  of  power.  Where  much  pains  have  been  bastowed  in  framing 
an  elaborate  head-dress  of  feathers  which  would  be  easily  deranged,  a  ca.se  to  contain 
and  preserve  it  for  ceremonial  days  is  constructed.  The  Northern  tribes  in  the  winter 
wear  a  cap  of  cloth  made  to  fit  closely  to  the  head  and  fall  down  the  neck,  being 
tied  over  the  shirt  or  coat  in  such  a  manner  as  to  prevent  the  snow  from  reaching  the 
neck  and  throat. 

It  is  also  during  the  prevalence  of  the  rigors  of  winter  that  the  very  singular 
appendage  to  the  moccasin,  cidled  t'.iC  snow-shoe,  is  worn.  It  is  siinply  a  contrivance 
to  keep  the  f(K)t  from  sinking  in  soft  snow.  For  this  purpose  two  bows  of  hard  wood 
are  formed  and  iK'nt  elliptically,  the  two  ends  of  the  bows  being  brought  together 
and  closed  behind  the  foot,  forming  a  projection.  Two  cross-pieces  are  put  to  the 
front  part  for  the  foot  to  rest  on,  and  a  third  piece  l)ehind  the  heel  to  give  firmness 
to  the  frame.  The  whole  surface  is  then  laced  over  with  deer's  sinews  or  strips  of 
hide.  A  thong  of  leather  confines  tiie  foot  to  the  thwarts,  jKirmitting  it  to  play 
freely,  and  the  whole  appendage  hangs  from  the  tnaf^,  resembling  a  vast  sandal, 
allowing  the  muscles  the  freest  s('0|>e.  Various  sizes  and  shapes  of  the  snow-shoe 
iire  worn  by  the  difli'rent  tril>es.  There  is  also  always  a  female  snow-shoe,  which  is 
shorter  and  has  sohk;  }K'culiiiritie,s  of  shape.  The  cording  of  the  latter  is  often 
painted  in  fanciful  colors  and  furnished  with  light  tassels. 

No  tribe  in  the  United  States  dis|K'ns(is  with  the  aziau.  This  is  generally  made 
of  a  quarter  of  a  yard  of  stniuds,  drawn  closely  about  the  person  iK'fiire  and  Ix'hind, 
and  held  up  by  tiie  abdominal  string,  wliich  also  siipj»ort.s  the  leggings.  A  (lap  of 
the  cloth  hangs  down  an  e(|ual  length  behind  and  before.  This  Uap  is  usually 
ornamented  bv  elaljorate  needle-work. 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


203 


Over  his  shirt,  or  around  his  coat,  if  that  garment  be  worn,  the  warrior  winds 
his  baldric  or  girdle,  which  is  woven  of  worsted  from  beaded  threads.  The  ends  of 
these  filaments  depend  as  a  tassel.  The  garter  is  generally  constructed  of  similar 
materials.  An  ornament  made  of  the  claws  of  the  grizzly  bear,  the  most  ferocious 
beast  of  the  West,  is  much  coveted  by  warriors,  who  fancy  themselves,  when  carry- 
ing such  a  symbol,  to  be  endowed  with  that  animal's  courage  and  ferocity.  It  is  in 
this  sense  an  amulet  as  well  as  an  ornament.  Indeed,  there  are  few  of  the  orna- 
ments of  the  Indians  that  have  not  this  twofold  character. 

Winnebago  Indians  of  both  sexes  consider  the  Mackinac  blanket  an  essential 
article  of  dress  at  all  times.  White  blankets  are  preferred  in  the  winter,  and  colored 
ones  ill  the  summer.  Red  is  a  favorite  color  with  the  young,  and  green  with  the  aged. 
Three-point  blankets  are  worn  by  men,  and  two-and-a-half-point  by  women.  The 
calico  shirts,  cloth  leggings,  and  buckskin  moccasins  worn  by  both  sexes  are  similar. 
In  addition  to  the  above  articles  the  women  wear  a  broadcloth  petticoat  or  mantelet, 
suspended  from  the  hips  and  extending  below  the  knee.  No  part  of  the  garments 
worn  by  this  tribe  is  made  of  materials  tlie  growth  of  their  own  country,  except  that 
their  leggings  and  moccivsins  are  sometimes  made  of  deer-skins  dressed  by  themselves. 
The  Winnebago  chiefs  wear  nothing  peculiar  to  designate  their  office,  except  it  be 
medals  received  from  the  President  of  the  United  States.  These  Indians  attach  great 
value  to  ornaments.  Wampum,  ear-bobs,  rings,  bracelets,  and  bells  are  the  most 
common  ornaments  worn  by  them.  Head-dresses  ornamented  with  eagles'  feathers 
are  worn  by  the  warriors  on  j'ublic  occasions.  Some  of  the  young  men  and  women 
of  the  tribe  paint  their  blankets  with  a  variety  of  colors  and  figures.  This  is  usually 
done  with  vermilion  and  other  paints  purchased  of  their  traders.  Vegetable  dyes 
are  used  but  little  by  them.  They  do  not  tattoo  their  bodies.  A  large  majority  of 
tlie  young  and  middle-aged  of  both  sexes  paint  their  faces  when  they  dress  for  a 
iliinco,  and  on  all  public  occasions.  Vermilion,  prussian  blue,  and  chrome  yellow 
are  generally  used  for  this  purpose.  The  men  frequently  besmear  their  bodies  with 
white  clay  when  they  join  a  public  dance. 

Dyes  are  made  from  Howers  mostly,  and  from  roots  and  barks  of  trees.  They 
tlye  red,  purple,  blue,  black,  green,  yellow.  The  red  dye  is  made  from  the  toj)  of  the 
sumach  and  a  small  root  found  in  the  ground,  by  boiling. 
Yellow  is  from  flowers,  by  boiling.  Black  is  from  maple- 
bark,  butternut,  and  black  mud  taken  from  the  bottom 
of  rivers.  Vermilion  is  still  sold  them  in  considerable 
(juiintities ;  red  clay,  blue,  and  yellow  are  also  used  by 
the  men  to  paint  their  faces  and  boilies.  Cxide  of  iron, 
making  a  paint  somewhat  resembling  Spanish  brown,  is 
largely  used  by  all  the  Sioux.  Sometimes,  though  not 
very  often,  they  puncture  the  skin  for  ornament,  as  well 
as  their  arms  and  breast,  their  forehead  and  lips.  Tlie 
men  make  many  imprints  on  their  blankets  with  paint  as  marks  of  bravery,  etc. 

The  hair  of  both  sexes  is  worn  long,  and  tied  or  braided,  and  is  carefully  attended 


SaH  i '  ' 

vM 

i'^ 

fl 

w 

ll 

%, 

204 


TUE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


to.    They  have  no  beards.    They  sometimes  part  the  hair  from  superstitious  motives, 
and  sometimes  for  ornament. 

For  war  costume  among  the  Indians  of  Oregon  and  Tapper  California  paint  is 
freely  used,  the  color  principally  red,  applied  to  the  face,  arms,  and  chest.  Feathers 
and  leaves  are  also  used  to  decorate  the  head,  some  having  the  hair  tied  up  in  a 
knot.  Some  of  these  Northern  tribes  wear  for  their  dress  a  jacket  of  mail,  something 
like  the  cut  on  the  opposite  page,  which  covers  them  in  front,  and  affords  protection 
against  arrows  to  the  most  vitid  portion  of  their  bodies.  It  is  composed  of  thin 
parallel  battens  of  very  tough  wood,  woven  together  by  a  small  cord,  with  arm-holes 
»;nd  strings  at  the  bottom  corners  to  fasten  it  around  the  waist. 


ACCOUTREMENTS. 

The  quiver  is  variously  constructed  and  ornamented,  but  is  generally  made  of 
leather  or  bark.  It  is  suspended  from  the  shoulders  by  a  strap  around  the  breast. 
An  Indian's  riches  and  olliciency  in  war  and  hunting  consist  greatly  in  the  number 
of  his  arrows.  These  are  not  generally  fabricated  by  the  warrior  himself,  but  are 
made  by  a  person  who  has  the  requisite  skill  in  the  business  and  is  known  as  a  pro- 
fessional arrow-maker.  He  is  rewarded  for  his  services,  and  thus  is  relieved  in  a 
great  measure  from  the  necessity  of  hunting  on  his  own  account. 

The  shield  is  the  only  protection  which  the  Indian  possesses  against  the  arrow. 
The  Aztec  guarded  himself  by  a  wadded  cotton  doublet.  But  there  was  no  such 
defence  against  rifles  or  arms  north  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  prairie  tribes  who 
employ  the  shield  use  the  thickest  pieces  oi  the  hide  of  the  buffalo.  It  is  an 
appendage  which  they  pai'.it  and  decorate  with  'jrnaments  of  eagles'  feathers  with  the 
greatest  nicety. 

The  Indian  ensign  is  formed  by  attaching  the  feathers  of  the  eagle  to  a  polo 
some  six  feet  in  length,  the  bearer  of  which  is  conceived  to  bo  intrusted  with  a  high 
honor.  These  feathers  are  attached  longitudinally,  by  puncturing  the  quill  and 
drawing  a  line  through  the  orifice. 

Wherever  the  Indian  goes,  in  peace  or  war,  and  whatever  he  does,  his  pipe  is 
his  constant  companion.  He  draws  consolation  from  it  in  hunger,  want,  and  mis- 
fortune, and  "  when  fair  skies  betide  him" — his  constant  expression  for  good  fortune 
— it  is  the  pipe  to  which  he  appeals,  as  if  every  puff  of  the  weed  were  an  acceptable 
oblation  to  the  Great  Spirit.  The  various  sacks  in  which  he  carries  this  cherished 
2)lant  are  ornamented  with  great  skill  and  patience. 


CIIARACTEKISTIC  TRAITS. 

Imperturbability  in  all  situations  is  one  of  the  most  striking  and  general  traits  of 
the  Indian  character.  To  steel  his  muscles  to  resist  the  expression  of  all  emotion 
seems  to  be  the  point  of  attainment,  and  this  is  to  be  particularly  observed  on  public 
occjisions.  Neitiier  fear  nor  joy  is  permitted  to  break  this  trained  equanimity.  The 
newest  and  most  ingenious  contrivance  placed  before  him  is  not  allowed  to  produce 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


205 


the  least  expression  of  wonder ;  and,  although  his  language  has  provided  him  with 
many  exclamations  of  surprise,  he  cannot,  when  placed  in  the  gaze  of  public  obser- 
vation, be  induced  to  utter  any,  even  the  slightest  of  them,  to  mark  emotion.  The 
mind  and  nerves  are  schooled  to  this  from  the  earliest  hours,  and  it  is  deemed  a 
mark  of  timidity  or  cowardice  to  permit  his  countenance  to  denote  surprise.  In 
this  stern  discipline  of  the  mind  and  nerves  there  is  no  appreciable  difference  in 
the  whole  Indian  race  situated  between  the  tropic  and  arctic  zones.  Heat  of  climate 
hiis  not  been  found  to  have  the  affect  to  relax  the  habit,  nor  cold  to  make  him  forget 
the  unvarying  severity  of  cautiousness,  or  of  what  is  conceived  to  be  its  manly 
requirements.  The  Inca  Atahualpa  ordered  some  of  his  warriors  to  be  immediately 
put  to  death  because  they  had  evinced  some  emotion  of  surprise  at  the  sight  of 
Pizarro's  cavalry,  who  had  been  directed  to  curvet  before  him ;  although  the  horse 
was  everywhere,  on  his  first  introduction,  known  to  be  the  especial  object  of  Indian 
wonder  and  fear. 

Taciturnity  is  a  habit  of  mind  very  consonant  to  the  maxims  and  experiences  of 
the  hunter  life.  Where  the  punishment  of  hot  or  hasty  words  is  often  the  knife  or 
the  club,  a  man  is  compelled  to  deliberate  before  he  utters  a  sentiment.  It  is  a 
maxim  in  Indian  life  that  a  man  who  is  sparing  of  his  words  is  discreet.  The  habits 
of  the  forest  tend  to  show  this.  Public  speaking  and  talking  are  different  acts.  A 
speech  or  an  oration  is  left  for  public  councils  and  occasions,  and  is  therefore  thought- 
fully prepared.  There  is  always  a  private  council  to  determine  what  shall  be  said, 
and  a  man  appointed  to  sjieak,  who  is  not  always  a  chief.  This  preparation  is  often 
so  carefully  made  that  it  was  customary  in  early  times  on  great  occasions  to  have 
a  string  of  wampum  to  serve  sis  a  memorial  or  symbol  for  every  paragraph  or 
topic.  The  requirements  of  the  highest  diplomatic  circle  could  hardly,  indeed, 
prescribe  greater  caution  and  concealment  than  are  observed  in  their  public  treaties ; 
and  in  these  two  qualities  we  may  take  a  Talleyrand  and  a  Metternich,  and  a  Pon- 
tiac  and  a  Tecumseh,  as  the  two  extremes  where  barbarism  and  civilization  meet :  it 
would  be  difficult  to  determine  in  which  tv/o  classes  of  diplomatists  profound  con- 
cealment and  deception  most  abound. 


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BEQABD   FOE  THE   INSANE. 


Regard  for  lunatics,  or  the  demented  members  of  the  human  race,  is  a  universal 
trait  among  the  American  tribes.  It  is  even  found  among  the  Indians  of  Oregon, 
who  have  been  often,  and  perhaps  not  erroneously,  supposed  to  be  inferior  in  mental 
endowments  to  the  tribes  of  the  Atlantic  slope  and  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  in  1806,  saw  an  Oregon  woman  who  appeared  to  be  demented.  She 
sang  in  a  wild,  incoherent  manner,  and  would  offer  to  the  spectivtors  all  the  little 
articles  she  possessed,  scarifying  herself  in  a  horrid  manner  if  any  one  refused  to 
accept  her  presents.  She  seemed  to  be  an  object  of  pity  among  the  Indians,  who 
suffered  her  to  do  as  she  pleased  without  interruption,  her  lunacy  being  considered 
by  the  Indians  a  jierfect  exemption  from  responsibility. 


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206 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TIIE  UNITED  STATES. 


KEVKNGE. 

Any  one,  two,  or  three  may  revenge  the  death  of  a  relative,  and  it  sometimes 
hapjiens  that  two  or  three  are  killed  for  one.  A  compromise  is  frequently  made  by 
the  offending  party  giving  large  presents.  Fleeing,  too,  from  justice  has  saved  the 
life  of  a  murderer  for  years,  and  ho  sometimes  escapes  altogether  and  dies  a  natural 
death.  Other  murderers  are  killed  years  after  the  offence :  when  they  think  all  is 
forgotten,  revenge  is  taken  in  a  moment.  They  have  no  particular  place  of  escape, 
jis  the  people  of  old  had.  In  feuds  arising  from  j)olygamy,  if  a  death  occurs,  the 
relatives  of  the  deceased  almost  always  seek  revenge. 

In  cases  of  murder  the  parties  aggrieved  generally  seek  revenge  themselves, 
although  there  are  some  instances  where  a  murderer  is  put  to  death  by  the  authority 
of  the  council.  An  instance  of  this  kind  happened  in  1846  at  Little  Crow's  village. 
An  old  chief  had  tluee  wives,  and  also  had  children  by  each  of  the  three,  who  were 
always  wrangling  with  one  another,  although  the  father  had  taken  great  pains  to 
bring  them  up  to  be  good  men.  After  the  old  chief's  death,  the  eldest  son  of  each  of 
these  three  sets  of  children  set  up  claims  to  the  chieftainship,  although  their  father  had 
previously  given  it  to  his  first  son.  The  younger  brothers  were  very  jealous,  and 
made  an  attempt  to  kill  him,  in  which  they  very  nearly  succeeded.  They  shot  him 
with  ball  and  shot ;  both  his  arms  were  broken,  and  he  was  also  wounded  in  the  face 
and  breast.  After  this  heinous  act  the  young  men  made  their  escape,  but  a  month 
afterwards  returned  home  again,  got  drunk,  and  threatened  to  kill  other  persons. 
The  village  called  a  council,  and  resolved  to  put  the  young  men  to  death.  One  of 
them  had  fallen  asleep,  the  other  was  awake.  The  three  appointed  to  kill  them, 
one  of  whom  was  a  half-brother,  went  to  the  lodge  where  they  were,  and  shot  them. 
No  notice  of  the  decision  of  the  council  was  given  them.  The  executioner  seeks  the 
most  favorable  opportunity  he  can  find  to  kill  the  man.  Guns  are  generally  used 
for  this  business,  although  the  tomahawk  or  clubs  sometimes  are  preferred.  Messen- 
gers are  sent  out  for  the  restoration  of  i)roperty.  The  most  of  the  pilfering  among 
themselves  is  done  by  women  and  children.  The  men  say  it  is  too  low  a  practice  for 
them  to  live  by.  Stealing  horses,  however,  from  an  enemy  the  men  regard  as  an  act 
of  bravery  and  right.  The  women  have  severe  and  bloody  fights  on  account  of 
stealing  from  one  another.  The  men  scarcely  ever  interfere  in  these  quarrels. 
Polygamy  also  gives  rise  to  bloody  battles  among  the  women,  and  the  strongest  gen- 
erally keeps  the  lodge.  The  men  attend  to  their  own  diiliculties,  and  let  the  women 
settle  theirs  among  themselves. 


INRiAN  SUPERSTITIONS. 


The  Indian  appears  to  be  so  constituted  that  whatever  is  mysterious,  wonderful, 
or  incomprehensible  is  referred  by  him  to  the  agency  of  spirits  or  local  gods. 
Whetlier  engaged  in  the  business  of  ])eace  or  war,  these  mysterious  influences  are 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


207 


ever  uppermost  in  his  mind.  In  war-parties  they  are  often  invoked  on  the  use  of 
simples  or  botanical  medicines.  Rev.  Cotton  Mather,  a  celebrated  divine  of  the  early 
epoch  of  New  England,  observes  that  "every  remarkable  creature  haa  a  peculiar 
god  within  it,  or  about  it,  and  that  the  HIh  of  life  are  believed  to  be  due  to  the  anger 
of  these  goils,  while  their  success  is  ascribed  to  their  favor.  Chief  over  these  local 
deities,  they  describe  the  great  god  Kamantowit,  who  is  represented  as  the  creator 
of  all  mankind."  Every  object  that  possesses  life  in  any  department  of  the  universe 
may  be  supjwsed  to  be  inhabited  by  a  manito  or  spirit.  They  do  not  bow  down  to 
the  images  of  them,  as  the  Oriental  nations  do,  but  merely  recognize  their  spiritual 
])ower.  Neither  do  they  ever  worship  any  of  them,  as  a  principle  analogous  to  the 
Bndima,  Vishnu,  or  Siva  of  the  Hindoos.  The  manito  is  a  god  showing  himself 
often  in  an  animal  form,  or  in  the  higher  phenomena  of  the  atmosphere,  as  thunder, 
lightning,  meteors,  stars,  or  the  sun  and  moon.  Material  objects  merely  typify  the 
deity,  but  the  idea  of  the  god  in  most  cases  is  latent  in  the  Indian  mind. 

There  is  a  custom  among  the  Chippewa  warriors  of  eating  small  portions  of  a 
bitter  root,  which  is  supposed  to  produce  insensibility  to  pain.  This  is  carried  as  a 
sacred  talisman,  and  is  never  resorted  to  till  thry  come  into  the  vicinity  of  the  enemy. 
They  call  it  zfie-t/o-wauk.  After  the  warriors  have  seated  themselves  in  a  ring  in  the 
prairie  to  chew  this  root,  tliey  arise  with  renewed  courage  and  spirits. 

MANITOES. 

Manitoes,  except  those  of  the  tutelary  cla&s,  are  believed  to  be  generally  invisible 
and  immaterial,  but  can  assume  any  form  in  the  range  of  the  animate  creation,  and 
even,  when  the  occasion  calls  for  it,  take  their  place  among  inanimate  objects.  They 
also,  in  communicating  with  mankind,  often  assume  the  human  form,  and  take  the 
shai)es  of  giants,  dwarfs,  or  cannibals.  The  power  of  this  assumption  is  common 
to  the  evil  and  to  the  good  spirits.  In  the  oral  tales  of  the  Indians  the  form  is  most 
commonly  assumed  by  malign  disturbers  of  Indian  jMiacc,  as  sorcerers,  witches,  etc. 
The  Great  Spirit  and  his  messengers  are  also  recognizetl,  sometimes  in  the  human 
form,  as  in  the  narratives  of  the  creation  of  the  world  and  of  mankind,  and  in  the 
legends  concerning  the  origin  of  the  knowledge  of  making  fire  and  of  killing  and 
roiustiug  the  deer.  They  also  teach  a  perpetual  struggle  and  fundamental  war  be- 
tween the  two  opposing  powers  or  original  spirits  of  good  and  evil.  These,  Charle- 
voix tells  us,  were  twins,  believed  by  the  Iroquois  to  be  brought  forth  by  Atahentsic, 
the  mother  of  mankind.  Oriwahennic,  a  Wyandot  chief,  related  to  Mr.  Schoolcraft 
the  same  tradition  in  1838.  The  tribes  of  the  Iroquois  stock  believe  that  Tarenya- 
wagon  cleared  their  streams  of  insuperable  obstructions,  and  taught  them  the  arts  of 
life  and  of  government. 

'J'otcmic  marks  are  not  only  the  ideographic  signs  for  families,  denoting  consan- 
guinity, but  also  perform  an  iriii)ortant  office  in  the  Indian  bark  scrolls,  and  picto- 
graphs,  and  painted  skins,  on  which  the  warlike  feats  of  individuals  are  depicted. 
These  totemic  devices  are  also  shown  in  their  application  to  public  transactions. 


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208 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


They  are  employed,  with  a  formula  expressing  numbers,  to  denote  the  census  of 
Indian  villages. 

The  Indians,  living  in  vast  forests  abounding  in  enormous  trees,  adopted  the 
belief  in  wood-dryads,  the  demons  of  the  Greeks,  whom  they  propitiate  under  the 
name  of  Monedoes,  or  local  spirits,  regarding  them  as  subordinate  powers  of  the  Great 
Spirit.  As  these  dryads  were  generally  thought  to  be  of  a  malignant  nature,  the 
oll'ering  to  them,  at  consecrated  spots,  of  tobacco,  vermilion,  red  cloth,  or  any  other 
highly-valued  article,  was  adopted  lus  the  means  of  appeasing  them.  Giants,  sorcer- 
ers, wizards,  and  other  creations  of  a  timid  fancy  were  supiwscd  to  be  in8j)ired  by 
these  wood-demons. 

Another  striking  feature  of  their  system  of  deification  was  the  belief  that  the 
Indian  Monedo  not  only  concealed  himself  under  the  forms  of  men  who  mingled  in 
society  and  were  familiarly  conversed  with,  but  also  frequently  assumed  the  shape 
of  a  wolf,  deer,  bear,  elk,  bird,  tortoise,  amphibious  animal,  or  even  an  insect.  Here 
appeal's  the  evidence  of  a  fruitful  imagination,  corresponding  with  the  ancient  forms 
of  deification  existing  among  the  nations  resident  in  the  valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and 
the  Nile.  Of  the  clan  of  evil  deities  are  the  Kluneolux  of  the  Irotjuois,  the  Che- 
pian,  the  Wabeno,  and  the  Manitoash  of  the  Algonkins,  and  the  Skookum  of  the 
Oregouiaus. 

SPIRIT-CBAFT. 

The  transition  from  tlie  Monedoes,  or  spirit-worship  of  the  North  American  In- 
dians, to  demonology  is  slight.  The  American  aboriginal  demon,  or  maiiitoosh,  is 
ever  one  of  malign  power  to  the  luiman  race.  As  such  he  was  exhibited  in  l')M,  on 
the  St.  Lawrence,  by  the  followers  of  Donnaconna,  to  Jacques  Cartier,  in  order  to 
induce  that  explorer  to  relinquish  his  contemplated  visit  to  Hochelaga  (the  modern 
Alontreal).  j'^or  this  purpase,  three  of  the  Indians,  who  had  been  selected  to  repre- 
sent the  part,  issued  from  the  forest  in  the  shai)e  of  wild  and  fierce  demons,  and  j)layed 
tricks  before  the  intrepid  Norman  by  passing  near  Carticr's  vessels  in  their  canoes, 
dressed  with  horns,  and  singing  and  yelling  like  "devils." 

A  similar  demonstration  wius  witnessed  by  David  lirainerd,  the  missionary,  on 
the  sources  of  the  Sus(juehanna,  in  1744.  One  of  the  Indian  sorcerers  on  this 
occasion  enacted  the  clmracter  of  an  enraged  fiend,  clothed  in  the  hide  of  a  huge 
bear.  He  sprang  suddenly  from  the  sacred  lodge  of  the  Indian  powwow,  and,  with 
no  slight  power  of  diabolical  resemblance,  played  the  part  of  a  wild  demon  so  as 
efl'ectually  to  deter  the  Indian  sjiectators  from  listening  any  longer  to  the  white 
man's  teachings.  Analogous  representations  of  a  great  wood-demon  have  been  wit- 
nessed among  the  Western  triU's. 

The  study  of  this  complicati'd  system  of  spirit-craft  reveals  many  of  the  shifts 
and  resources  of  the  Indian  mind  in  peace  and  in  war,  and  under  one  of  its  most  sub- 
tile phases, — namely,  the  power  of  the  jossaki'e<ls  and  medas.  In  the  language  of  the 
Iroquois  the  supreme  god  is  called  Neo,  or,  as  the  term  is  more  fretpu-ntiy  heard  in 
it.s  personal  combinations,  Owayneo.     The  JJakota  group  of  tribes  apply  the  term 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


209 


Wiilicoiida,  from  wakon,  a  spirit.  In  tlie  Choctaw  form  of  tlio  Appalachian,  it  is 
Aba-Inka.  Tljcsc  terniH  arc  the  idcolingual  eciuivalonts  for  one  aiiotlicr.  And  the 
Hystem  of  spiritual  reliances  and  beliefs  is  the  same  in  ita  general  features.  The 
Indian  man  turns  from  himself  and  everything  human,  which  he  dirftrusta,  to  the 
spiritual  and  mysterious  beings  of  his  own  creation.  Wonder  charms  the  savage 
soul,  and  in  this  belief  we  behold  his  perpetual  source  of  it.  In  theory  he  refers 
to  one  supreme,  omnipresent  Great  Spirit,  while  he  recognizes  as  subordinates  of 
this  deity  almost  every  object  in  heaven  or  on  earth  which  strikes  his  fancy. 

OMENS,  DKEAM8,  ETC. 

The  Indiana  are  much  afraid  of  vampires  and  the  bat,  and  say  it  is  a  bad  omen 
when  they  fly  about  them.  They  also  view  with  superstitious  dread  the  iynu-faluus, 
vulgarly  called  the  jack-o'-lantern.  Whoever  sees  one  of  these  at  night  regards  it 
as  a  sure  sign  of  death  to  some  one  of  his  family.  T^ieams  are  much  believed  in  by 
them,  but  what  causes  them  they  cannot  tell.  One  thing  is  certain,  that  their  bad 
dreams  are  caused  mostly  by  their  over-eating  at  night  and  going  to  sleep  soon 
after.  An  Indian  has  been  known  to  go  to  two  or  tliree  feiusts  of  an  evening,  and 
cat  all  that  wsis  given  him,  which  would  amount  to  five  or  six  pounds  of  venison, 
with  the  fat  along  with  it.  In  good  dreams  they  suppose  some  friendly  spirit  has 
been  near  them,  giving  th(!m  good  advice.  Indians  are  often  downcast,  and  imagine 
some  ill  fate  is  going  to  hai)pen  to  them.  Hardly  a  day  passes  over  an  Indian  family 
without  some  omen  being  seen  or  heard ;  consequently  they  are  very  much  troubled 
in  their  superstitious  beliefs.  They  pray,  but  their  prayers  are  very  short.  The 
following  is  a  sample :  "  Spirits  or  ghost.s,  have  mercy  on  me  and  show  me  where  I 
can  find  a  deer  or  bear"  (as  the  case  may  be). 

MENSTRUAL   IX)DGE. 

None  of  the  subsisting  Indian  customs  are  more  significant  than  those  connected 
with  the  menstrual  lodge;  and  none  exercise  a  more  import^int  influence  in  the 
circle  of  the  wigwam.  This  lunar  retreat  is  always,  if  possible,  in  some  secluded 
|)lace,  within  the  supervision  of  the  members  of  the  family  wigwam.  Adair  sees  in 
this  custom  a  striking  Hebrew  trait.  The  temporary  abstraction  of  the  female  is 
idways  known  to  the  lodge-circle.  The  lodge  of  separation  is  gener-'ilj  made  of 
branches,  rolls  of  bark,  and  other  light  nuiterials.  In  the  summer  no..ai.g  further 
is  demanded,  and  no  fire  is  re(piired.  When  the  weather  renders  a  fire  desirable,  a 
very  small  one  is  lighted  from  dry  sticks.  The  occupation  of  the  innuite,  in  the 
interval,  is  to  preparer  flags  for  nuits,  to  pick  up  sticks  for  fire,  or  to  engage  in  some 
other  light  labor.  The  leading  idea  evinced  by  the  custom  is  that  of  a  deeply-seated 
sui)er8titious  fear  of  contact  with  any  jierson  within  the  camp.  Whatever  is  touched 
by  the  woman  during  this  i)eriod  is  deemed  ceremonially  unclean.  She  takes  with 
her  in  her  seclusion  a  spoon,  a  dish,  and  a  small  axe.     If  her  step  crosses  the  path 


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►  '♦ 


II 


210 


Tim  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


of  a  liiiiiter  or  wiirriur,  it  coininunicuti>H  a  tnliHiniinic  influence,  the  niiigieni  nnd 
nicdit'ul  eluiriiiH  of  IiIh  purHuibi  arc  dcMtroyed,  tlie  mvrot  power  of  the  Mcdii  hiw  been 
couriterueted, — in  line,  iiin  panoply  of  nieduic  and  toteniic  iniluenee  \h,  for  tiie  time, 
paralyzed.  The  warrior'a  Inelc  iitus  b«!n  eromed  for  that  tlay.  Merely  to  toueh  u 
eiip  with  the  niarku  of  uneleanneHs  ia  equally  malign.       ..... 


IIUMAX  8ACBIFICEH. 

It  has  been  doubted  wlu^ther  human  life  has  ever  been  Hacrificcd  to  demons,  or  to 
ol)ject8  of  idolatrous  wonshij),  by  the  United  States  Indian  tribes.  The  burning  of 
j>risoncrs  of  war  at  the  stake  is  a  familiar  phase  of  Indian  character.  It  is  generally 
the  ebullition  of  savage  vengeance,  under  u  highly  excited  state  of  hostility,  and, 
as  such,  is  often  known  to  be  the  retaliation  of  one  tribe  against  another.  To  excite 
pain  and  to  prolong  cruelty  is  one  of  the  highest  objecta  of  the  Buccessful  capture  of 
an  enemy.  To  endure  this  ordeal  is  the  greatest  glory  of  the  expiring  and  defiant 
foe.  With  the  Aztecs  human  sacrifices  were  a  religious  rite.  Nothing  wiw  deemed 
80  acce{)table  an  ofl'ering  to  Iluitzilopochtli  as  the  human  heart  warmly  torn  from 
the  bleeding  victim.  But  the  whole  history  of  our  tribes  may  be  appealetl  to,  it  is 
believed,  without  finding  that  a  single  human  being  has  been  sacrificed  to  a  spirit, 
u  demon,  or  a  god.  Smith  was  not  condemned'  by  Powhatan  to  satisfy  a  wood-demon 
or  evil  spirit,  nor  was  Crawford  tied  to  the  stake  by  the  Delawares  and  Wyandots 
as  a  religious  victim  demanded  by  the  powwows. 

In  the  month  of  April,  1838,  an  event  occurred  on  the  Missouri,  about  one 
hundred  and  sixty  miles  almve  Council  Bluf!s,  at  the  recital  of  which  the  heart 
shudders  with  horror.  The  Pawnees  and  Bioux  had  long  carried  on  a  fierce  and 
sanguinary  warfiire  on  that  remote  border.  In  the  month  of  February,  the  former 
tribe,  which  luus  long  had  a  name  for  cruelty,  captured  a  Sioux  girl  named  Ilaxta, 
only  fourteen  years  of  age.  She  was  taken  to  their  villager,  where,  during  several 
months,  she  was  treated  with  care  and  kindness.  More  than  the  usual  attention  was 
perhaps  i)aid  to  her  diet,  but  not  a  word  was  uttered  respecting  her  fate.  The  dread- 
ful truth  first  flashed  on  her  mind  on  the  22d  of  April,  at  the  time  when  spring 
had  already  assumed  her  mild  and  genial  reign,  and  the  tribe  had  begun  to  plant 
their  corn.  A  council  of  the  chiefs  and  warriors  assembled,  at  which  her  destiny 
was  determined.  Still,  the  result  of  their  deliberations  was  carefully  concealed  from 
her.  At  the  breaking  up  of  this  council  she  was  brought  out  from  the  lodge  in 
which  she  had  been  domiciliated,  and,  accompanietl  by  the  whole  council,  was  led 
from  wigwam  to  wigwam.  At  each  of  these  they  gave  her  a  small  billet  of  wood 
and  a  little  paint,  which  she  handed  to  the  warrior  next  her,  passing  on  through  the 
round  of  visits  till  she  had  (died  at  every  lodge. 

Two  days  after  this  ceremonious  round  of  visits,  she  was  led  out  to  the  ground 
which  had  been  chosen  as  the  j)lace  of  her  sacrifice,  and  not  till  she  arrived  at  this 
spot  did  she  conjecture  the  true  object  of  the  .symbolical  contributions,  and  the  gen- 
eral concurrence  in  the  (l(»(>iii  she  was  destined  to  undi-rgo.     The  spot  selected  was 


fl 


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ifX* 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


211 


between  two  trees  standing  five  feet  apart.  Three  bars  of  wood  had  been  tied  from 
tree  to  tree  as  a  platform  lor  her  to  stand  on.  A  small,  equably  burning  fire  had  been 
kindled  under  the  centre  of  this  stand,  the  blaze  of  which  was  just  sufficient  to  reach 
her  feet.  Two  stout  Pawnee  warriors  then  mounted  the  bars,  taking  a  firm  grasp  of 
her,  and  holding  her  directly  above  the  blaze.  Small  fagots  of  light  dry  wood  were 
then  kindled,  and  held  under  her  armpits. 

A  wide  ring  of  the  assf  Jibled  population  of  the  village,  and  its  chiefe  and  war- 
riors, stood  around  to  witness  this  extraordinary  spectacle,  but  not  in  immediate 
juxtaposition  to  the  spot.  Each  warrior  had  his  bow  and  arrow  ready.  The 
moment  of  the  application  of  the  little  burning  fagots  under  her  arms  was  a  signal 
to  them  to  fire ;  and  in  an  instant  her  body  was  pierced  with  arrows  so  thickly  that 
every  vital  part  of  her  body  was  penetrated. 

Life  being  extinct,  these  arrows  were  quickly  withdrawn,  and  while  the  flesh  was 
yet  warm  it  was  cut  in  small  pieces  from  her  bones,  and  put  in  little  baskets.  All 
this  was  done  with  almost  inconceivable  quickness.  The  baskets  of  human  flesh 
were  then  taken  to  an  adjacent  corn-field.  The  principal  chief  took  a  piece  of  the 
flesh  and  squeezed  a  drop  of  blood  upon  the  newly-deposited  grains  of  corn.  This 
example  was  immediately  followed  by  the  rest,  till  all  the  corn  had  been  thus  bathed 
in  human  blood,  when  the  hills  were  covered  over  with  the  earth.  It  is' stated  that 
this  is  by  no  means  an  isolated  instance  of  human  sacrifice  among  the  Pawnees. 

The  Otoes,  who  are  very  near  neighbors  of  the  Pawnees,  have  a  peculiar  mode  of 
sacrificing  a  horse  at  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  his  master.  The  animal  having  been 
shot,  his  tail  is  cut  off  and  tied  to  a  long  pole,  which  is  tlum  planted  in  the  grave. 
The  carcass  of  the  horse  is  also  deposited  in  the  grave  before  it  is  fillo<l  up.  The 
sonse  of  attention  and  respect  of  the  Indian  spectator  in  thus  satisfied.  He  believes 
that  by  these  typical  rites  provision  is  made  that  ^\nnt  of  the  liorse  shall  carry 
his  master  through  the  land  of  shadows  to  the  n.nlit  patwl  huntit\;i;-^i'oumls  of  tlu' 
aboriginal  paradise.  For  with  the  Otoes,  and  the  prairie  tribes  generally,  the  horse 
and  man  are  alike  believed  to  possess  souls.  Indian  tradition  .^luto  that  Manaboz'io 
called  all  the  quadrupeds  his  brothers ;  they  are  regarded,  therefore,  iis  merely  umler 
the  power  of  enchantment.  ■         , 


BURIAL-CUSTOMS. 

The  burial-ceremonies  among  our  Indian  tribes  are  at  all  times  attcinied  with 
interest,  from  the  insight  they  give  into  Indian  character.  Some  of  these  incMmtes- 
Uibly  disclose  their  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  while  the  idea  of  its  linger- 
ing with  the  body  for  a  time  after  death,  and  requiring  food,  denotes  a  coikii  ico 
with  Oriental  customs,  or  at  least  the  strong  tie  of  local  attachment  which  i .  i  vades 
the  Indian  mind.  When  a  Chippewa  corpse  is  put  into  its  coffin,  the  lid  is  tied,  not 
nailed,  on.  The  reason  thej  give  for  this  is  that  the  communication  between  the 
living  and  the  dead  is  better  kept  up;  the  freed  soul,  which  has  preceded  the  body 
to  the  Indian  elysium,  will,  it  is  believed,  thus  have  access  to  the  newly-buried  body. 

Over  the  top  of  the  grave  a  roof-shaped  covering  of  cedar  bark  is  built  to  shed 


BT-"^i 


'       A     >' 


'^^^mmmmm'^ 


212 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


the  rain.  A  small  aperture  is  cut  through  the  bark  at  the  head  of  the  grave.  On  a 
Chippewa's  being  asked  why  this  was  done,  he  replied,  "  To  allow  the  soul  to  pass  out 
and  in."  "  But  you  believe  tliat  the  soul  goes  up  from  the  body  at  the  time  of  death 
to  a  lana  of  happiness.  How  then  can  it  remain  in  the  body  ?"  "  There  are  two 
souls,"  replied  the  Indian  philosopher.  "  You  know  tliat  in  dreams  we  pass  over 
wide  countries,  and  joc  hills  and  hikes  and  mountains,  and  many  scenes  which  pass 
before  our  eyes  and  affect  us.  Yet  at  the  same  time  our  bodies  do  not  stir,  and  there 
is  a  soul  left  witji  the  body,  else  it  would  be  dead.  So  you  perceive  it  must  be 
another  soul  that  accompanies  us." 

It  is  near  this  orifice  left  for  the  soul  that  the  portion  of  food  consecrated  in  feasts 
for  the  dead  is  usually  placed,  in  a  wooden  or  bark  dish.  It  could  not  but  happen 
that  victuals  thus  exposed  should  be  devoured  by  the  porcupine,  fisher,  wolf,  or  some 
other  species  of  animals  which  seek  their  food  by  night.  From  whatever  cause, 
however,  the  Indian  makes  no  scruple  in  believing  its  abstraction  to  be  the  work  of 
the  soul  in  its  supjiosed  visits  to  or  from  the  body. 

Along  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  where  a  canoe  constitutes  the  principal  personal 
property  of  an  Indian,  the  deceased  owner  is  placed  in  it,  and  the  vessel  deposited  in 
the  forks  of  trees  until  the  flesh  has  resolved  itself  into  its  elements,  when  the  bones 
are  carefally  buried.  The  Indian  has  a  peculiar  regard  and  respect  for  his  dead;  and, 
whatever  other  traits  he  lacks  in  this  world,  he  makes  '.mportant  provisions,  according 
lo  his  creoil,  for  the  convenience  of  his  friends  iu  the  next.  The  rites  of  sepulture 
are  always  performed  with  exact  and  ceremonious  attention.  Their  belief  is  that  the 
spirits  of  the  dead,  though  unseen,  are  present  on  these  occasions,  and  that  they  are 
very  scrupulous  that  the  rites  should  be  duly  performed.  The  ritual  of  canoe-burial 
as  practised  by  the  Chinooks,  at  the  moutii  of  the  Columbia,  is  given  by  Mr.  James 
G.  Swan  in  the  following  words : 

"  When  a  chief  or  person  of  consequence,  either  male  or  female,  is  taken  sick  of 
any  fatal  disease,  recourse  is  had  to  the  Indian  doctor,  or  medicine-man,  after  it  is 
found  that  all  their  applications  of  simples  have  failed.  The  doctors  are  supposed  to 
possess  different  powers :  one  excels  in  removing  the  Skookuni,  or  evil  spirit,  which 
is  thought  to  prey  upon  the  vitals,  causing  death ;  and  another  professes  to  be  en- 
dowed with  the  faculty  of  driving  away  the  spirits  of  tlic  dead,  that  are  believed  to 
be  always  hovering  round  their  friends  on  earth,  ready  in  all  times  to  carry  them  to 
the  land  of  spirits." 

The  same  observer,  who  was  present  at  the  i)urial  of  uii  aged  female  of  rank  ut 
Shoalwater  Bay,  in  Washington  Territory,  gives  the  following  graphic  account  of 
what  occurred : 

"  She  had  been  sick  some  time  of  liver  complaint,  and,  finding  her  symptoms 
grew  more  aggravated,  she  sent  for  a  medicine-man  to  mamokc  to-mah-na-waa,  or 
work  spells,  to  drive  away  tlie  mcmelose,  or  dead  people,  who,  she  said,  came  to  her 
every  night. 

"Towards  night  the  doctor  came,  bringing  with  him  his  own  and  ;..iother  family 
to  assist  in  the  ceremonies.     After  they  had  eaten  supiKjr,  the  centre  of  the  lodge 


It 


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m^mmm 


mmm 


F 


MANN.URS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


213 


was  cleaned  up,  and  fresn  eand  strawn  over  it.  A  bright  firo  of  dry  wood  was  then 
kiiuUcd.  One  of  the  best  canoes  belonging  to  the  deceased  was  taken  into  the  woods 
a  short  distance  from  the  lodge,  and  prepared  for  the  reception  of  the  body.  These 
canoes  are  carved  out  of  a  single  log  of  cedar,  and  are  of  the  most  beautiful  propor- 
tions. 8ome  are  of  a  size  capable  of  holding  a  hundred  persons,  with  all  their  arms 
and  accoutrements.  The  canoe  in  question  was  about  thirty-five  feet  long.  It  was 
first  thoroughly  washed,  then  two  large  square  Jioles  were  cut  through  the  bottom, 
j)robably  for  the  twofold  purpose  of  letting  out  any  water  that  might  ooHect  in  the 
canoe  during  rain-storms,  and  also  to  prevent  the  canoe  from  ever  again  being  used. 
Nice  new  mats  of  rushes  were  then  placed  inside,  and  on  these  the  corpse,  wrapped 
in  new  blankets,  was  laid. 

"All  the  household  implements  and  utensils  that  had  been  the  property  of  the 
deceased  were  placed  in  the  canoe  beside  her,  care  being  taken  to  crack  or  break  all 
the  crockery  and  to  punch  holes  through  the  tin  or  copper  utensils.  Blankets,  calico 
dresses,  and  trinkets  were  also  placed  around  the  body,  which  was  then  covered  over 
with  more  new  mats,  and  a  small  canoe  that  fitted  into  the  large  one  was  turned 
bottom  up  over  all.  iFour  stout  posts  of  cedar  plank  were  then  driven  into  the 
ground,  and  through  holes  mortised  near  the  top  were  thrust  two  parallel  bars  about 
four  feet  from  the  ground.  The  canoe  was  then  raised  up  and  firmly  secured  on  the 
top  of  the  bars,  and  the  whole  covered  over  with  mats. 

"  The  object  of  elevating  the  canoe  was  to  keep  the  wild  beasts  from  tearing  the 
body,  and  to  allow  of  a  free  circulation  of  air,  which,  by  keeping  the  canoe  dry, 
prevented  a  rapid  decomposition  of  the  wood,  which  would  be  likely  to  take  place  if 
the  canoe  was  on  the  damp  earth.  Although  the  majority  of  canoes  I  have  seen 
were  placed  on  the  horizontal  bars,  yet  it  is  not  a  general  rule,  as  sometimes  two 
|)0st8  formed  of  forked  branches  are  used,  and  the  canoe  rests  in  the  fork.  Neither 
do  the  coast  tribes  always  use  the  canoes  to  bury  their  dead  in,  for  I  have  noticed  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  several  insttinces  where  boxes  made  of  boards  were  used 
instead  of  canoes. 

"  After  a  person  dies,  and  before  the  body  is  removed  from  the  lodge,  there  are  no 
outward  signs  of  grief,  but  no  sooner  are  the  burial-rites  completed  than  they  com- 
mence singing  the  death-song,  which  is  simply  an  address  to  the  spirit  of  the  departed 
friend  or  relative,  bewailing  their  loss,  and  telling  of  their  many  virtues. 

"  The  burden  of  the  song  in  the  instance  just  cited  was, — 

" '  Oh  I  our  mother,  why  did  you  leave  us  ? 

We  can  hardly  see,  by  reason  of  the  water  that  runs  from  our  eyes. 

Many  years  have  you  lived  with  us,  and  have  ofVcn  told  us  words  of  wisdom. 

We  are  not  poor,  neither  were  you  poor. 

We  had  plenty  of  food,  and  plenty  of  clothing : 

Then,  why  did  you  leave  us  fur  the  land  of  the  dead  ? 

Your  limbs  were  stout,  and  your  heart  was  strong. 

You  should  have  lived  with  us  for  many  years  longer,  and  taught  us  the  deedsi  of  the  olden  time.' 

"  This  song,  with  some  slight  variation,  was  sung  every  morning  at  sunrise,  and 


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111 


^  •"    lU'iJ 


214 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUB  UNITED  STATES. 


i  i; 


every  evening  at  sunset,  for  thirty  days,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  the  lodge 
was  pulled  down  and  the  family  moved  to  another  part  of  the  Bay." 

In  speaking  of  the  general  customs  regarding  sepulture  among  the  tribes  of  that 
part  of  the  Pacific  coast,  the  same  gentleman  gives  the  following  account : 

"  At  the  expiration  of  a  year  the  bones  are  taken  out  of  the  canoes,  and,  after 
being  wrapped  in  new  white  cotton  cloth,  are  enclosed  in  a  box  and  buried  in  the 
earth,  usually  under  the  canoe,  but  in  some  instances  they  are  gathered  into  a  sort  of 
family  burying-ground. 

"  There  are  many  instances  where  bones  may  be  found  in  canoes,  where  they  have 
lain  for  many  years,  but  in  these  cases  the  immediate  relatives  of  the  deceased  had 
either  died  or  gone  to  some  other  part  of  the  coast.  I  endeavored  to  witness  the 
ceremony  of  collecting  and  burying  the  bones  of  several  Indians,  but,  as  I  found  the 
relatives  objected,  I  did  not  urge  the  matter.  They  said  they  were  afraid  to  have  me 
with  them,  as  the  dead  were  standing  round  to  see  the  ceremony,  and  would  be  angry 
if  a  stranger  was  there.  It  was  formerly  the  custom,  and  is  now  among  the  tribes 
farther  nortli,  to  kill  a  favorite  slave  whenever  a  person  of  importance  dies;  or, 
instead  of  a  slave,  a  favorite  horse ;  but  where  there  are  any  white  settlers  among 
the  Indians  this  custom  is  abandoned.  It  has  been  stated  that  the  Indians  of  Oregon 
and  Washington  always  kill  the  doctors  when  they  are  unsuccessful.  Instances  have 
undoubtedly  occurred  where  the  relatives  of  a  deceased  person  have  become  exasper- 
ated with  a  doctor  and  have  killed  him,  but  it  is  not  a  general  practice,  nor  have  I 
ever  known  of  an  instance  of  the  kind  from  personal  observation. 

"  When  any  jierson  dies  in  a  lodge,  the  family  never  will  sleep  in  it  again,  but 
either  burn  it  up  or,  as  in  the  instance  I  have  mentioned,  remove  it  to  some  other 
location.  This,  I  believe,  is  an  invariable  custom.  Sometimes  the  lodge  is  immedi- 
ately destroyed,  and  at  other  times  remains  for  a  while  and  is  then  removed ;  or,  if 
the  boards  are  not  wanted,  the  lodge  will  be  deserted  entirely,  and  suffered  to  remain 
and  gradually  go  to  decay.  Since  the  whites  have  settled  among  the  coast  tribes 
they  have  induced  the  natives  in  many  instances  to  bury  their  dead  in  the  ground, 
but  when  left  to  themselves  they  almost  universally  retain  and  adhere  to  their  ancient 
custom,  and  bury  their  dead  in  canoes." 

The  prairie,  by  its  extent  and  desolateness,  appears  to  exert  a  deleterious  influence 
on  the  savage  mind.  Some  of  the  grosser  and  more  revolting  customs  of  the  prairie 
Indians  resi)ecting  interments  are  no  doubt  traceable  to  their  wild  and  lawless  habitn. 
Nothing  observed  respecting  burials  among  them  reaches  so  absolutely  a  revoltinj; 
l)oint  as  a  custom  which  Iuls  been  noticed  among  certain  of  the  Oregon  trilxjs,  and 
which  is  perhaps  not  general.  An  eye-witness,  writing  from  tlie  mouth  of  the 
Columbia,  describes  it  as  follows :  "  I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  Chinook 
Indian  country,  where  I  witnessed  a  mast  revolting  ceremony, — that  of  burying  the 
living  with  the  dead.  One  of  the  chiefs  lost  a  (huightcr,  a  fine-looking  woman, 
about  twenty  years  of  age.  She  wjis  wrai)i)ed  up  in  a  rush  mat,  together  with  all 
her  trinkets,  and  placed  in  a  canoe.  The  father  had  an  Indian  slave  bound  hand 
and  foot,  and  fastened  to  the  body  of  the  deceased,  and  enclosed  the  two  in  another 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


215 


mat,  leaving  out  the  head  of  the  living  one.  The  Indians  then  took  the  canoe  (which 
was  employed  in  lieu  of  a  coffin)  and  carried  it  to  a  high  rock  and  left  it  there. 
Their  custom  is  to  let  the  slave  live  for  three  days,  then  another  slave  is  comi)elletl 
to  strangle  the  victim  by  a  cord  drawn  around  the  neck.  They  also  kill  the  horse 
that  may  have  been  a  favorite  of  the  deceased,  and  bury  it  at  the  head  of  the  canoe. 
I  was  desirous  of  interfering  and  saving  the  life  of  the  poor  victim,  but  Mr.  Hirris, 
the  gentleman  with  nie,  and  the  two  Indians,  our  companions,  assured  me  that  I 
should  only  get  myself  into  serious  trouble ;  and  as  we  were  at  a  great  distance  from 
the  settlements,  and  our  party  so  small,  self-preservation  dictated  a  different  course 
from  the  inclinations  of  our  hearts." 

At  tlie  interment  of  a  warrior  and  hunter  in  Upper  Michigan,  in  1822,  the  corpse 
was  carefully  dressed,  as  above  described,  and  after  it  was  brought  to  the  grave,  and 
before  the  lid  was  nailed  to  the  coffin,  an  address  was  made  by  an  Indian  to  the 
corpse.  The  substance  of  it  relating  to  this  belief  was  this :  "  You  are  about  to  go 
to  that  land  where  our  forefathers  have  gone ;  you  have  finished  your  journey  here 
before  us.  We  shall  follow  you,  and  rejoin  the  happy  groups  which  you  will  meet." 
When  the  speaking  and  ceremonies  are  concluded,  the  coffin  is  lowered  into  the 
trench  prepared  to  receive  it,  and  thus  "  buried  out  of  sight."  This  mode  of  inter- 
ment is  common  to  the  forest  tribes  of  the  North,  and  appears  to  have  been  practised 
by  them  from  the  earliest  periods.  They  choose  dry  and  elevated  places  for  burial, 
which  are  completely  out  of  the  reach  of  floods.  Oflen  these  spots  selected  for  the 
burial  of  the  dead  are  sightly  and  picturesque  points,  which  command  extensive  views. 
They  bury  east  and  west.  They  are  without  proper  tools,  and  do  not  dig  deep,  but 
generally  make  the  place  of  interment  secure  from  the  depredations  of  wild  beasts  by 
arranging  the  trunks  of  small  trees  in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram,  notched  at  the 
angles,  around  it,  or  by  stakes  driven  into  the  ground.  In  other  instances  a  bark 
roof  is  constructed  which  will  shed  the  rains. 

The  raising  of  "  heaps"  of  earth  over  the  grave,  in  the  form  of  small  mounds  or 
barrows,  appears  to  have  been  practised  in  ancient  jjcriods  as  a  mark  of  distinction 
for  eminent  persons.  But  whatever  was  its  prevalence  at  other  eixKjhs,  while  they 
were  in  the  West  and  Southwest,  and  before  they  crossed  the  Alleghanies,  it  fell  into 
almost  entire  disuse  in  the  Atlantic  and  Lak^  tribes.  There  are  some  traces  of  it  in 
Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Western  Mew  York.  Rarely  the  resting-places  of 
Indian  heroes  were  marked  by  heaps  of  stones.  In  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Missis- 
HJppi  this  species  of  tumuli,  formed  of  earth,  is  found  to  be  common,  and  the  tradition 
of  the  Muscogees  respecting  the  custom  is  well  preserved.  But  by  far  the  most 
striking  theatre  of  this  rude  mode  of  sepulture  is  the  Mississippi  Valley,  whose 
plains  and  alluvions  have  been  literally  sown  with  the  dead.  The  tribes  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  where  the  })opulation  was  more  dense  and  the  means  of  subsist- 
tnoe  more  abunilant,  were  not  satisfied  that  their  great  warriors  and  orators  should 
l)e  so  quickly  "  buried  out  of  sight ;"  and  the  small  sej)ulchral  mound,  as  well  as 
tiie  more  lofly  villiigo,  or  public  tumulus,  wius,  at  the  ejwch  of  the  maximum  of  their 
power,  frwpiently  oret'tod. 


liip'i  ^ 


210 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBBii  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Biiriiil  among  the  wild  hordoa  of  tlio  prairies  aHHumi^  n  feature  that  mnrlcH  it  as 
a  poeuliur  habit  of  those  tribtw.  Tiicy  Hcaftbld  thoir  dead  on  cniinenceH  where  they 
may  be  descried  afar  off.  The  corpse,  after  it  has  received  its  wrappings,  is  placed 
in  a  rude  coffin,  which  is  generally  garnished  with  rod  nigments,  and  rendered  pic- 
turesque to  the  eye  by  offerings  to  the  dead,  hung  on  poles,  aud,  if  it  can  be  got,  a 
flag.     Burials,  or  deposits  of  the  body  in  (uives,  are  otleii  resorted  to. 

No  trait  has  commended  the  forest  tribes  of  the  old  area  of  the  United  States 
more  to  the  respt^ct  and  admiration  of  beholders  than  the  scrupulous  regard  with 
which  they  are  found  to  remember  the  burial-grounds  of  their  ancestors,  the  vener- 
ation and  piety  they  exhibit  in  visiting,  at  all  periods,  these  spots,  and  the  anguish 
of  their  minds  at  any  marks  of  disrespect  and  disturbance  of  the  bones  of  their 
ancestors.  Gifbi  are  made  at  graves  so  long  iis  it  is  supiH)sed  there  is  any  part  of 
the  perishable  matter  remaining,  and  oblations  are  poured  out  to  the  spirits  of  the 
departed  after  other  rites  are  discontinued. 


MOURNING.  . 

They  mourn  their  dead  with  pious  lamentation.  They  oflen  visit  the  burial- 
place,  and  linger  around  it,  with  a  belief  that  such  visits  are  agreeable  to  the  de- 
parted spirit  This  trait  of  reverence  for  the  departed  is  one  of  the  most  universally 
observed  characteristics  of  Indian  life.  And  it  is  one  which  at  the  same  time  most 
emphatically  denotes  the  Indian  to  be  a  man  of  heart.  He  has  l)een  said  to  be 
as  imjH'rturbable  as  the  cliffs  he  often  gazes  on  with  fixity  of  muscle.  He  recounts 
his  atrocities  and  aeliievemcnts  in  war  at  the  recitations  of  the  war-post  with  shouts. 
lie  niaintnins  his  stoical  ii.,liH'erence  at  the  stake,  and  even  breaks  forth  in  a  funeral 
song  of  trium])h ;  but  he  is  subdued  by  the  stroke  of  death  in  his  scK-ial  and  family 
circle. 

Black  is  the  universal  sign  for  mourning;  it  is  the  symbol  for  death,  and  is  taken 
from  night.  In  their  j)ictography  the  innige  of  the  sun  is  represented  to  stand  for  or 
symbolize  night,  for  which  purj)osc  it  is  crossed  and  bluekt-ned.  The  face  of  the 
mourner  is  smeared  with  some  simple  black  mixture  that  will  not  readily  rub  off.  On 
occasions  of  deep  afiliction  the  arms  and  legs  are  cut  or  scarified,  an  Oriental  custom 
with  many  nations.  The  corpse  is  dressed  in  its  best  clothes.  It  is  wrapjKid  in  a 
new  blanket,  and  new  mocca.sins  and  leggings  put  on.  The  crown-band,  head-dress  or 
frontlet,  and  feathers,  are  also  put  on.  His  war-club,  gun,  and  pipe  are  placed  be^^ide 
him,  together  with  a  small  quantity  of  vermilion.  The  corpst'  is  laid  in  public, 
where  all  can  gather  around  it,  when  an  address  is  made,  partly  to  the  spectators, 
describing  the  charactc^r  of  the  decea.se»l,  and  partly  to  the  deceased  himself,  8|H'aklng 
to  him  a-s  if  the  orhkhuf),  or  soul,  were  still  present,  anil  giving  directions  iw  to  the 
path  he  is  supposed  to  be  about  to  tread  in  a  future  state. 

If  it  is  a  female  that  is  about  to  be  interred,  she  is  provided  with  a  paddle,  a 
kettle,  an  apekun,  or  carrying-strap  for  the  head,  and  other  feminine  implements. 
The  Pawnees,  and  other  prairie  tril)es,  kill  the  warrior's  horse  upon  his  grave,  that 


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MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS.  •,    V 

he  may  be  ready  to  mount  in  a  future  state,  and  proceed  to  the  appointed  scene  of 
rest. 

The  idea  of  immortality  is  strongly  dwelt  upon.  It  is  not  spoken  of  as  a  suppo- 
■jition,  or  a  mere  belief  not  fixed ;  it  is  regarded  as  an  actuality,  as  something  known 
and  approved  by  the  judgment  of  the  nation.  However  mistaken  they  are  on  the 
subject  of  accountability  for  acta  done  in  the  present  life,  no  small  part  of  their 
entire  mythology,  and  the  belief  that  sustains  the  man  in  his  vicissitudes  and  wan- 
derings here,  arise  from  the  anticipation  of  ease  and  enjoyment  in  a  future  condition, 
after  the  soul  has  left;  the  body.  The  resignation,  nay,  the  alacrity,  with  which  an 
Indian  frequently  lies  down  and  surrenders  life,  is  to  be  ascribed  to  this  prevalent 
belief.  He  does  not  fear  to  go  to  a  land  which,  all  his  life  long,  he  has  heard 
abounds  in  rewards  without  punishments. 

GRAVE-POSTS. 

The  character  of  the  devices  which  are  placed  on  the  grave-post  of  the  Indian 
has  been  described  under  the  head  of  Pictography.  Such  devices  are  appropriate  for 
adults  who  have  trodden  the  war-path  and  made  themselves  conspicuous  for  bravery 
or  heroism.  Children  and  youth  generally  pass  away  from  the  scenes  of  Indian  life 
without  any  such  memorials,  but  their  loss  is  often  bewailed  by  mothers  with  inccin- 
Koluble  grief  and  bitterness.  It  is  the  intensity  of  this  grief  which  lies  at  the  foun- 
dation of  the  practice  of  adopting  white  children  stolen  from  the  settlements  on  the 
frontiers.  Such  cases  are  generally,  if  not  in  every  instiince,  traceable  to  a  request 
of  the  Indian  mother  to  replace  the  child  of  which  she  has  been  bereft  by  death. 


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OSSUARIES. 

Tribal  changes  in  the  mode  of  disiwsing  of  the  dead,  from  interment  to  exposure 
on  scafiblding,  it  is  Iwlieved,  result  from  the  military  element  in  the  Indian  character, 
which  Slicks  to  preserve  by  sepulchral  display  the  memory  of  the  brave  exploits  of 
till!  departed.  But  this  is  not  the  most  important  change  in  their  sepulchral  customs 
which  has  taken  place  since  the  discovery  of  the  continent.  No  fact  is  better  estab- 
lished than  the  former  existence  of  the  custom  of  permitting  the  body  to  decay  in 
charnel-lodges,  or  otlier  situations  above  ground,  and  of  subseiiuently  interring  the 
bones,  with  public  ceremony,  in  trenches,  accompanying  this  duty  with  ])ious  rites,  in 
which  the  inhabitants  of  entire  villages  participated.  In  these  ultimate  rites  the 
iimuli'ts  and  charms  were  carefully  redejxwited.  These  articles  of  cherished  value  letl 
by  the  deceased  jwrson  consisted  of  medals,  or  pieces  of  sea-shells  forn»ed  into  seg- 
niciits  and  circles,  or  beads  of  the  same  material ;  sometimes  of  entire  shells,  bones, 
iiiiiinals'  claws,  sculptured  pijHsi,  ornaments  made  ot  red  steatite  and  of  other  soft  or 
tissile  stones,  domestic  or  warlike  utensils,  or  articles  of  copper.  One  of  the  ancient 
(WHiiiiiies  referred  to  exists  on  the  small  island  of  Mennisais,  one  of  the  Micliiliniiiok- 
inac  group     These  anti<[ue  ossuaries  have  somctinu's  given  rise  to  the  opinion  that 

28 


I 


218 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


great  battles  had  been  fouglit  at  these  localities,  and  the  slain  promiscuously  buried. 
But  such  an  oj)iniou  is  controverted  by  the  discovery  of  these  carefully  and  deliber- 
ately deposited  mementos.  The  large  size  and  number  of  the  sepulchral  bone- 
trenches  found  in  the  West  and  North,  such  as  the  noted  depositories  at  Beverley, 
Canada  West,  are  often  matter  of  surprise.  Such  ossuaries  would  appear  to  have 
been  the  charnel-houses  of  entire  districts.  There  are  localities  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley  where  the  bones  have  been  walled  in  with  flat  stones,  as  on  the  lauds  above 
the  Battery  Rock,  on  the  Ohio. 


MANNERS   AND   CUSTOMS  OF  THE  IROQUOIS. 

The  following  account  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Iroquois  is  taken  from 
Cadwallader  Coldcn's  history  of  that  famous  confederacy : 

"  When  any  of  the  young  men  of  those  nations  have  a  mind  to  signalize  them- 
selves, and  to  gain  a  reputation  among  their  countrjmen  by  some  notable  enterprise 
against  their  enemy,  they  at  first  communicate  their  design  to  two  or  three  of  their 
most  intimate  friends,  and  if  they  come  into  it  an  invitation  is  made  in  their  names 
to  all  the  young  men  in  the  castle  to  feast  on  dog's  flesh,  but  whether  this  be  because 
dog's  flesh  is  most  agreeable  to  Indian  palates,  or  whether  it  be  as  an  emblem  of 
fidelity,  for  which  the  dog  is  distinguished  by  all  nations,  that  it  is  always  used  on 
this  occasion,  I  have  not  sufliciont  information  to  determine.  When  the  company  is 
met,  the  promoters  of  the  enterprise  set  forth  the  undertaking  in  the  best  colors  they 
can ;  they  boast  of  what  they  intend  to  do,  and  incite  others  to  join  from  the  glory 
there  is  to  be  obtained ;  and  all  who  eat  the  dog's  flesh  thereby  enlist  themselves. 

"The  night  before  they  set  out  they  make  a  grand  feast;  to  this  all  the  noted 
warriors  of  the  nation  are  invited,  and  here  they  have  their  war-dance  to  the  beat  of 
a  kind  of  a  kettle-drum.  The  warrioi-s  are  seated  in  two  rows  in  the  house,  and 
each  rises  up  in  his  turn  and  sings  the  great  acts  he  has  himself  performed,  and  the 
deeds  of  his  ancestors;  and  this  is  always  accompanied  with  a  kind  of  a  dance,  or 
rather  action,  representing  the  manner  in  whidi  they  were  performed  ;  and  from  time 
to  time  all  present  join  in  a  chorus,  applauding  every  notable  act.  They  exaggerate 
the  injuries  tliey  have  at  any  time  received  from  their  enemies,  and  extol  the  glory 
which  any  of  their  ancestors  have  gained  by  their  bravery  and  courage;  so  tliat 
they  work  up  their  spirits  to  a  higli  degree  of  warlike  enthusiasm.  I  have  some- 
times persuailtKl  some  of  their  young  Indians  to  act  these  dances  for  our  diversion, 
and  to  sh(»w  us  the  manner  of  them  ;  and  even  on  these  occasions  they  have  worked 
themselves  uj)  to  such  a  jtitcli  that  they  have  made  all  present  unciu^y. 

"They  come  to  these  dances  with  their  faces  j)alnted  in  a  frightful  manner,  as 
they  always  are  when  they  go  to  war,  to  make  themselves  terrilde  to  tlieir  enemies; 
and  in  this  manner  the  niglif  is  spent.  Next  day  tlicy  march  out  with  much  for- 
mality, dressed  in  lliuir  finest  apparel,  and  in  their  march  oltserve  a  proud  silence. 
An  ofllcer  of  the  regular  troops  told  me  that  wliilf  he  was  commandant  of  Fort 
Hunter  liie   .Nioliawks,  on  one  of  these  occasions,  tolil  liitn  that  they  expected  the 


sssssm 


*. 


1 


1' 

MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


219 


usual  military  honors  as  they  passed  the  garrison.  Accordingly,  he  drew  out  his 
garrison,  the  men  presented  their  pieces  as  the  Indians  paa^od,  and  the  drum  beat  a 
march,  and  with  less  respect,  the  oflBcer  said,  they  would  have  been  dissatisfied.  The 
Indians  passed  in  a  single  row,  one  after  another,  with  great  gravity  and  profound 
silence ;  and  every  one  of  thera,  as  he  passed  the  officer,  took  his  gun  from  his  shoul- 
der and  fired  into  the  ground  near  the  officer's  foot.  They  marched  in  this  manner 
three  or  four  miles  from  their  castle.  The  women  on  these  occasions  always  follow 
them  with  their  old  clothes,  and  they  send  back  by  them  their  finery  in  which  they 
marched  from  the  castle.  But  beftjre  they  go  from  this  place  where  they  exchange 
their  clothes,  they  always  peel  a  large  piece  of  the  bark  from  some  great  tree ;  they 
commonly  choose  an  oak,  as  most  lasting ;  upon  the  smooth  side  of  this  wood  they,  with 
their  red  paint,  draw  one  or  more  canoes  going  from  home,  with  the  number  of  men 
in  them  paddling  which  go  upon  the  expedition  ;  and  some  animal,  as  a  deer  or  fox, 
an  emblem  of  the  nation  against  which  the  expedition  is  designed,  is  painted  at  the 
head  of  the  canoes ;  for  they  always  travel  in  canoes  along  the  rivers  which  lead  to 
the  country  against  which  the  expedition  is  designed,  as  far  as  they  can. 

"  After  the  expedition  is  over,  they  stop  at  the  same  place  in  their  return,  and 
send  to  their  castle  to  inform  their  friends  of  their  arrival,  that  they  may  be  prepared 
to  give  them  a  solemn  reception,  suited  to  the  success  they  have  had.  In  the  mean 
time  they  represent  on  the  same,  or  some  tree  near  it,  the  event  of  the  enterprise ; 
and  now  the  canoes  are  painted  white,  their  heads  turned  towards  the  castle ;  the 
number  of  the  enemy  killed  is  represented  by  scalps  painted  black,  and  the  number 
of  prisoners  by  as  many  withes  (in  their  painting  not  unlike  pot-hooks),  with  which 
they  usually  pinion  their  captives.  These  trees  are  the  annals,  or  rather  trophies,  of 
the  Five  Nations.  I  have  seen  many  of  them,  and  by  them  and  their  war-songs 
they  preserve  the  history  of  their  great  achievemente.  The  solemn  reception  of 
these  warriors,  and  the  acclamations  of  applause  which  they  receive  at  their  return, 
cannot  but  have  on  the  hearers  the  same  effiact  in  raising  an  emulation  for  glory 
that  a  triumph  had  on  the  old  Romans. 

"  After  their  prisoners  are  secured,  they  never  offijr  them  the  least  maltreatment, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  will  rather  starve  themselves  than  suffer  them  to  want ;  and  I 
have  bnen  always  a.ssured  that  there  is  not  one  instance  of  their  offering  the  least 
violence  to  the  chastity  of  any  woman  that  was  their  captive.  But,  notwithstanding, 
the  poor  pri-soners  afterwards  undergo  severe  puniHhment.s  before  they  receive  the 
last  doom  of  lifo  or  death.  The  warriors  think  it  for  their  glory  to  lead  them  through 
all  the  villages  of  the  nations  subject  to  them  which  lie  near  the  road ;  and  these,  to 
show  their  affection  to  the  Five  Nations,  and  their  abhorrence  of  their  enemies,  draw 
up  in  two  lines,  through  which  the  poor  prisoners,  stark  naked,  must  run  the 
f^auntlet ;  and  on  ,iiis  occasion,  it  is  always  observed,  the  women  are  more  cruel  than 
the  men.  The  p'isoners  mci't  with  the  same  sad  reception  when  they  reach  their 
journey's  end  ;  and  after  this  they  are  presented  to  those  that  have  lost  any  relation 
in  that  or  any  other  former  enterprise.  If  the  captives  be  accepted,  there  is  an  end 
to  their  sorrow  from  that  moment;  they  are  dressed  a.s  fiiR'  lus  they  can  make  them ; 


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W^"^ 
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220 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


they  are  absolutely  free  (except  to  return  to  their  own  country),  and  enjoy  all  the 
privileges  the  person  hud  iu  whose  vlace  they  arc  accepted;  but  if  otherwifie,  tliey 
die  in  torments,  to  satiate  the  revenge  of  those  that  refuse  them. 

"  If  a  young  man  or  boy  be  received  in  place  of  a  husband  that  was  killed,  uU 
the  children  of  the  deceased  call  that  boy  father :  so  that  one  may  sometimes  hear  a 
man  of  thirty  say  that  such  a  boy  of  fifteen  or  twenty  is  his  father. 

"  Their  castles  are  generally  a  square,  surroundtid  with  palisadoes,  without  any 
bastions  or  outworks,  for  since  the  general  peace  their  villages  lie  all  open. 

"  Their  only  instruments  of  war  are  muskets,  hatchets,  and  long  sharp-pointed 
knives.  These  they  always  carry  about  with  them.  Their  hatchet  in  war  time  is 
stuck  in  their  girdle  behind  them  ;  and,  besides  what  use  they  make  of  this  weapon 
in  their  hand,  they  have  a  dexterous  way  of  throwing  it,  which  I  have  seen  them 
often  practise  in  their  exercise,  by  throwing  it  into  a  tree  at  a  distimce.  They  have 
in  this  the  art  of  directing  and  regulating  tiic  motion,  so  that  though  the  hatchet 
turns  round  as  it  flies,  the  edge  always  sticks  in  the  tree,  and  near  the  place  at  which 
they  aim  it. 

"  They  use  neither  drum  nor  trumpet,  nor  any  kind  of  musical  instruments,  in 
their  wars :  their  throats  serve  them  on  all  occasions  where  such  are  necessary. 
Many  of  them  have  a  surprising  faculty  of  raising  their  voice,  not  only  in  inarticu- 
late sounds,  but  likewise  to  make  their  words  understood  at  a  distiince;  and  we  find 
tlie  same  was  practised  by  Homer's  heroes. 


" '  Thrice  to  its  pitch  his  lofty  voice  ho  rears, 
O  friend  I  Ulysses'  shouts  invade  my  cars.' 


"  The  Five  Nations  have  such  absolute  notions  of  lilierty  that  they  allow  of  no 
kind  of  superiority  of  one  over  another,  and  banish  all  servitude  from  their  territo- 
ries. They  never  make  any  prisoner  a  slave,  but  it  is  customary  to  make  a  compli- 
ment of  naturalization  into  the  Five  Nations;  and,  considering  how  highly  they 
value  themselves  al)ove  all  others,  this  must  be  no  small  compliment.  This  is  not 
done  by  any  general  act  of  the  nation,  but  every  single  jwrson  hius  a  right  to  do  it 
by  a  kind  of  adoption.  The  first  time  I  was  among  the  Mohawks  I  had  this  com- 
plinu'ut  from  one  of  their  old  sachems,  which  he  did  by  giving  me  his  own  name, 
Cayendcrongue.  lie  bad  been  a  notai)le  warrior,  and  he  told  me  that  now  I  had  a 
riglit  to  assume  to  myself  all  the  acts  oi'  valor  he  had  performed,  and  that  now  my 
iiaiiH^  would  echo  from  hill  to  hill  all  over  the  Five  Nations.  As  for  my  part,  I 
thought  no  more  of  it  at  that  time  than  as  an  artifice  to  draw  a  belly-full  of  strong 
liquor  from  me  for  himself  and  his  companions;  but  when,  about  ten  or  twelve  years 
afterwards,  my  business  led  me  again  among  them,  I  directed  the  interpreter  to  say 
something  from  me  to  the  sacluiins ;  he  wa.s  for  some  time  at  a  loss  to  understand 
their  answer,  till  he  asked  me  whether  I  had  any  name  among  them.  I  then  found 
lliat  I  was  known  to  them  by  that  name,  and  that  the  old  sachem,  from  the  time  he 
bad  given  nie  his  name,  had  iussiimed  another  for  himself     I  was  adopted  at  that 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


221 


time  into  the  tribe  of  the  bear,  and  for  that  reason  I  often  afterwartls  had  the  kind 
compliment  of  brother  Bear. 

"  The  hospit^ility  of  these  Indians  is  no  less  remarkable  than  their  other  virtues. 
As  soon  as  any  stranger  comes,  they  are  sure  to  offer  him  victuals.  If  there  be 
several  in  company,  and  come  from  afar,  one  of  their  best  houses  is  cleaned,  and 
given  up  for  their  entertainment.  Their  complaisance  on  these  occasions  goes  even 
further  than  Christian  civility  allows  of,  as  they  have  no  other  rule  for  it  than  the 
furnishing  their  guest  with  everything  they  think  will  be  agreeable  to  him. 

"  This  nation,  indeed,  has  laid  aside  many  of  its  ancient  customs,  and  so  likewise 
have  the  other  nations  with  whom  we  are  best  acquainted,  and  have  adopted  many 
of  ours,  so  that  it  is  not  easy  now  to  distinguish  their  original  and  genuine  manners 
from  those  which  they  have  lately  acquired ;  and  for  this  reason  it  is  that  they  now 
seldom  offer  victuals  to  persons  of  any  distinction,  because  they  know  that  their  food 
and  cookery  is  not  agreeable  to  our  delicate  palates.  Their  men  value  themselves  in 
having  all  kind  of  food  in  equal  esteem.  A  Mohawk  sachem  told  me  with  a  kind  of 
pride  that  a  man  eats  everything  without  distinction, — l)ears,  cats,  dogs,  snakes,  frogs, 
etc., — intimating  tbat  it  is  womanish  to  have  any  choice  of  food. 

"  I  can,  however,  give  two  strong  instances  of  the  hospitality  of  the  Mohawks, 
which  fell  under  my  own  observation,  and  which  show  that  they  have  the  very  same 
notion  of  h()si)itality  which  we  find  in  the  ancient  poets.  AVhen  I  was  last  in  the 
Mohawk  country  the  sachems  told  me  that  they  had  an  Englishman  among  their 
people,  a  servant  who  had  run  from  his  master  in  New  York.  I  immediately  told 
them  that  they  must  deliver  him  up.  *  No,'  they  answered, '  we  never  serve  any  man 
so  who  puts  himself  under  our  protection.'  On  this  I  insisted  on  the  injury  they 
did  thereby  to  his  master,  and  they  allowed  it  might  be  an  injury,  and  repliecl, 
•  Though  we  will  never  deliver  him  up,  we  are  willing  to  pay  the  value  of  the  servant 
to  the  master.'  Another  made  his  escape  from  the  jail  at  Albany,  where  he  was  in 
prison  on  an  execution  for  debt.  The  Mohawks  rweived  him,  and  as  they  protected 
bim  against  the  sheriff  and  his  otficers,  they  not  only  paid  the  debt  for  him,  but  gave 
him  land  over  and  alwve  sufficient  for  a  good  farm,  whereon  he  lived  when  I  was 
lust  there.  To  this  it  may  l)e  added,  all  their  extraordinary  visits  are  accompanied 
with  giving  and  receiving  presents  of  sonie  value. 

"  Polygamy  is  not  usual  among  them ;  and,  indeed,  in  any  nation  wliere  all  are 
on  a  par  as  to  riches  and  power,  plurality  of  wives  cannot  well  be  introduced.  As 
nil  kind  of  slavery  is  banished  from  the  countries  of  the  Five  Nations,  so  they  keep 
them-selves  free  also  from  the  bondage  of  wedlock ;  and  when  either  of  the  parties 
becomes  disgusted,  they  separate  without  formality  or  ignominy  to  either,  unless  it  be 
occasioned  by  some  scandalous  offence  in  one  of  them.  And  in  case  of  divorce  the 
children,  according  to  the  natural  course  of  all  animals,  follow  the  mother.  The 
women  here  bring  forth  their  children  witii  as  much  ea.se  as  other  animals,  and 
without  the  help  of  a  midwife,  and  stxm  after  their  deliviTv  return  to  their  usual 
cmploynuait.  They  alone  also  perform  all  the  drudgery  about  their  houses.  They 
plant  their  corn,  and  labor  it  in  every  respect  till  it  is  brought  to  the  table;  they 


'■' '  *  If  ■ 

'  ■  h  h'  "' 

'      , 

'-  '  Mv ' 

(   , 

I'.i'li;'.' 

''  "'ifti 

■  1  iM%J; 

:           '^8^?' 

\          -    \      ,■■,  g^ 

'■  \m 

w 
I 


l^»i' 


m 

m 


y-^^ 


222 


TIIH  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


likewise  cut  all  their  firewood,  and  bring  it  home  on  their  backs,  and  in  the  marches 
bear  thu  burdens.  The  men  disdain  all  kind  of  labor,  and  employ  themselves  alone 
in  hunting,  as  the  only  proper  business  for  soldiers.  At  times  when  it  is  not  proper 
to  hunt,  one  finds  the  old  men  in  companies  in  conversation,  the  young  men  at  their 
exercises,  shooting  at  marks,  throwing  the  hatchet,  wrestling,  or  running,  and  the 
women  all  busy  at  labor  in  the  fields. 

"  Thefl  is  very  scandalous  among  them,  and  it  is  necessary  it  should  be  so  among 
all  Indians,  since  they  have  no  locks  but  those  of  their  minds  to  preserve  their  goods. 

"  There  is  one  vice  which  the  Indians  have  all  fallen  into  since  their  acquaintance 
with  the  Christians,  of  which  they  could  not  be  guilty  before  that  time ;  that  is,  drunk- 
enness. It  is  strange  how  all  the  Indian  nations,  and  almost  every  person  among 
them,  male  and  female,  are  infatuated  with  the  love  of  strong  drink ;  they  know  no 
bounds  to  their  desire  while  they  can  swallow  it  down,  and  then  indeed  the  greatest 
man  among  them  scarcely  deserves  the  name  of  a  brute. 

"  They  never  have  been  taught  to  conquer  any  passion  but  by  some  contrary 
passion,  and  the  tradei-s,  with  whom  they  chiefly  converse,  are  so  far  from  giving 
them  any  abhorrence  of  this  vice,  that  they  encourage  it  all  they  can,  not  only  for 
the  i)ro(it  of  the  liquor  they  sell,  but  that  they  may  have  an  opportunity  to  impose 
upon  them.  And  this,  as  they  chiefly  drink  spirits,  has  destroyed  greater  numbers 
than  all  their  wars  and  diseascii  put  together.    < 

"  The  |)eople  of  the  Five  Nations  are  much  given  to  speech-making,  ever  the 
natural  consequence  of  a  perfect  republican  government.  Where  no  single  person 
has  a  power  to  compel,  the  arts  of  persuasion  alone  must  prevail.  As  their  best 
speakers  distinguish  themselves  in  their  jiublic  councils  and  treaties  with  other 
nations,  and  thereby  gain  the  esteem  and  applause  of  their  countrymen  (the  only 
superiority  which  any  of  them  has  over  the  others),  it  is  probable  they  apply  them- 
selves to  this  art  by  some  kind  of  study  and  exercise.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to 
Judge  how  far  they  excel,  as  I  am  ignorant  of  their  language,  but  the  speakers  whom 
I  have  heard  had  all  a  great  fluency  of  words,  and  much  more  grace  in  their  manner 
than  any  man  could  expect  among  a  peo])le  entirely  ignorant  of  all  the  liberal  arts 
and  sciences. 

"  I  am  informed  that  they  are  very  nice  in  the  turn  of  their  expressions,  and 
that  few  of  themselves  are  so  far  masters  of  their  language  as  never  to  offend  the 
ears  of  their  Indian  auditory  by  an  impolite  expression.  They  have,  it  seems,  a 
certain  urbanitas,  or  atticism,  in  their  language,  of  which  the  common  ears  are  ever 
sensible,  though  only  their  great  speakers  attain  to  it.  Tliey  are  so  much  given 
to  speech-making  that  their  common  compliments  to  any  i)erson  they  respect  at 
meeting  and  parting  are  made  in  harangues. 

"  They  have  some  kind  of  elegancy  in  varying  and  compounding  their  words,  to 
which  not  many  of  themselves  attain,  and  this  principally  distinguislua  their  best 
H|)eakers.  Sometimes  one  word  among  them  inciludcs  an  entire  definition  of  the 
thing ;  for  example,  they  call  wine  Oneharadeschoengtseragherie ;  as  much  as  to  say, 
a  liquor  made  of  the  juice  of  the  grape.     The  words  expri>ssing  things  lately  come 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


223 


to  their  knowledge  are  all  compounds.  They  have  no  labials  in  their  language,  nor 
can  they  pronounce  any  word  wherein  there  is  a  labial,  and  when  one  endeavors  to 
teach  them  to  pronounce  these  words  they  say  it  is  too  ridiculous  that  they  must  shut 
their  lips  to  speak.  Their  language  abounds  with  gutturals  and  strong  aspirations ; 
these  make  it  very  sonorous  and  bold ;  and  their  speeches  abound  with  metaphors, 
after  the  manner  of  the  Eastern  nations,  as  will  best  appear  by  the  speeches  that  I 
have  copied.  As  to  what  religious  notions  they  have,  it  is  difficult  to  judge  of  them ; 
because  the  Indians  that  speak  any  English,  and  live  near  us,  have  learned  many 
things  of  us ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  distinguish  the  notions  they  had  originally  among 
themselves  from  those  they  have  learned  from  the  Christians.  It  is  certain  they 
have  no  kind  of  public  worship,  and  I  am  told  that  they  have  no  radical  word  to 
express  God,  but  use  a  compound  word  signifying  the  Preserver,  Sustainer,  or  Master 
of  the  Universe ;  neither  could  I  ever  learn  what  sentiments  they  have  of  future 
existence  after  death.  They  make  a  large  round  hole  in  which  the  body  can  be 
placed  upright  or  upon  its  haunches ;  which,  after  the  body  is  placed  in  it,  is  covered 
with  timber  to  support  the  earth  which  they  lay  over,  and  thereby  keep  the  body 
free  from  being  pressed.  They  then  raise  the  earth  in  a  round  hill  over  it.  They 
always  dress  the  corpse  in  all  its  finery,  and  put  wampum  and  other  things  into  the 
grave  with  it ;  and  the  relations  suffer  not  grass  nor  any  weed  to  grow  on  the  grave, 
and  frequently  visit  it  with  lamentations.  But  whether  these  things  be  done  only  as 
marks  of  respect  to  the  deceased,  or  from  a  notion  of  some  kind  of  existence  after 
death,  must  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  reader. 

"  They  are  very  superstitious  in  observing  omens  and  dreams.  I  have  observed 
them  show  a  superstitious  awe  of  the  owl,  and  be  highly  displeased  with  some  that 
mimicked  the  cry  of  that  bird  in  the  night.  An  officer  of  the  regular  troops  told 
me  also  that  while  he  had  the  command  of  the  garrison  at  Oswego  a  boy  of  one  of 
the  far  westward  nations  died  there ;  the  parents  made  a  regular  pile  of  split  wood, 
laid  the  corpse  upon  it,  and  burnt  it ;  while  the  pile  was  burning  they  stood  gravely 
looking  on  without  any  lamentation,  but  when  it  was  burnt  down  they  gathered  up 
the  bones  with  many  tears,  put  them  into  a  box,  and  carried  them  away  with  them ; 
and  this  inclination  which  all  ignorant  people  have  to  superstition  and  amusing 
(HTomonics,  gives  the  popish  priests  a  great  advantage  in  recommending  their  religion 
beyond  what  the  regularity  of  the  Protestant  doctrine  allows  of. 

"  Queen  Anne  sent  over  a  missionary  to  reside  among  the  Mohawks,  and  allowed 
him  a  sufficient  subsistence  from  the  privy  purse ;  she  sent  furniture  for  a  chapel,  and 
a  valiuible  set  of  plate  for  the  communion-table,  and  (if  I  am  not  mistaken)  the  like 
furniture  and  plate  for  each  of  the  other  nations,  though  that  of  the  Mohawks  was 
only  applied  to  the  use  designed.  The  Common  Prayer,  or  at  least  a  considerable 
part  of  it,  was  translated  also  into  their  language  and  printed ;  some  other  pieces 
were  likewise  translated  for  the  minister's  use, — namely,  an  exposition  of  the  Creed, 
Di'calogue,  Lord's  Prayer,  and  Church  Catechism,  and  a  discourse  on  the  Sacra- 
ments. But  as  that  minister  was  never  able  to  attain  any  tolerable  knowledge  of 
tlieir  language,  and  was  naturally  a  heavy  man,  he  had  but  small  success ;  and,  his 


5       s 


224 


THE  INDIAN   TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


allowance  fulling  by  the  queen's  ileuth,  he  lefl  them.  These  nations  had  no  teacher 
from  that  time  till  within  these  few  yearu,  that  a  young  gentleman,  out  of  ])iouH  zeal, 
went  voluntjirily  among  the  MohawlcH.  Ho  was  at  first  entirely  ignorant  of  their 
language,  and  had  no  interpreter  except  one  of  the  Indians,  who  understood  a  little 
English  and  had  in  the  late  missionary's  time  learned  to  read  and  write  in  his  own 
language.  He  learned  from  him  how  to  pronounce  tlit;  words  in  the  translations 
which  had  been  made  for  the  late  missionary's  use.  He  set  up  a  school  to  teucli  their 
children  to  read  and  write  their  own  language,  and  they  made  surprising  proficiency, 
considering  their  muster  did  not  understand  their  language.  I  happened  to  be  in  the 
Alohuwk  country,  and  saw  severul  of  their  iwrformances.  I  was  present  at  their  wor- 
ship, where  they  went  through  some  |)art  of  the  Common  Prayer  with  great  decency. 
I  was  likewise  present  several  times  at  their  ])rivute  devotions,  which  some  of  them 
jierformed  duly  morning  and  evening.  I  had  also  many  opiwrtunities  of  observing 
the  great  regard  they  had  for  this  young  man ;  so  far,  that  the  fear  of  his  leaving 
them  made  the  greatest  restraint  on  them,  with  which  he  threatened  them  afler  they 
had  been  guilty  of  any  offence.  Soon  after  that  time  this  gentleman  went  to  Eng- 
lan<l,  received  orders,  and  was  sent  by  the  sociuty  missionary  to  Albany,  with  liberty 
to  s]>eud  some  ]mrt  of  his  time  among  the  Mohawks. 

"I  had  lately  a  letter  from  him,  dated  the  7th  of  Dec*  i  cr,  1741,  in  which  he 
writes  as  follows:  'Drunkenni'ss  was  so  common  among  them  that  I  doubt  if  there 
was  one  grown  person  of  either  sex  free  from  it ;  seldom  a  day  piiKsed  without  some, 
and  very  often  forty  or  fifty,  being  drunk  at  a  time.  But  I  found  they  were  very 
fond  of  keeping  me  among  them,  and  afraid  1  should  leave  them,  which  1  miule  use 
of  to  good  purpose,  daily  tlweatening  them  with  my  departure  in  case  they  did  not 
forsake  that  vice,  and  freipiently  re<juiring  a  particular  promise  from  them  singly ; 
by  which  means  (through  God's  bkwsing)  there  was  a  gradual  refornuition ;  and  I 
know  not  that  I  have  seen  above  ten  or  twelve  jtersons  drunk  among  them  this 
summer.  The  women  are  almost  all  entirely  reformed,  and  the  men  very  much. 
They  have  entirely  left  off'  divorces,  and  arc  legally  married.  They  are  very  con- 
stant and  devout  at  church  and  family  devotions.  They  have  not  been  known  to 
exercise  cruelty  to  prisonei-s,  and  have  in  a  great  nunisure  left  off"  going  a  fighting, 
which  I  find  the  most  difficult  of  all  things  to  dissuade  them  from.  They  seem  also 
pei-suadod  of  the  trutlis  of  Christianity.  The  great  inconvenieney  1  labor  under  is 
the  want  of  an  interjireter,  which  could  I  obtain  for  two  or  three  yeare,  I  should 
hope  to  be  tolerably  master  of  their  language,  and  Ije  able  to  render  it  easier  to  my 
successor.' 

"  There  is  one  custom  their  men  constantly  observe  which  I  must  not  forget  to 
mention ;  that  if  they  be  sent  with  any  message,  though  it  deuumd  the  greatest 
(Kwputch,  or  though  they  bring  intelligence  of  any  imminent  danger,  they  never  tell 
it  at  their  first  approaeh,  but  sit  down  for  a  minute  or  two  at  least,  in  silence,  to 
reeollect  themselves  before  they  siteak,  that  they  may  not  show  any  degree  of  fear  or 
8urj)rise  by  an  indecent  expression.  Every  sudden  repartee  in  a  public  treaty  leavi« 
with  them  an  imjiressiou  of  a  light  inconsiderate  mind;  but  in  private  conversation 


T    IS 

loulil 
my 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


225 


tliey  U8C  and  arc  dcliglitcd  with  brisk,  witty  auHwers,  as  wo  can  bo.  By  this  they 
bIiow  th(!  great  diflercnco  they  place  between  the  conversations  of  man  and  man  and 
nation  and  nation,  and  in  this,  and  a  thousand  other  things,  miglit  well  be  an  example 
to  the  European  nations." 

CUSTOMS  OF  THE  CREEK   OR   MUSCOGEE  NATION. 

The  Creeks  believe  that  God,  or  the  Great  Spirit,  created  the  universe,  and  all 
things  just  as  they  exist.  They  believe  that  the  earth  is  a  plane,  that  it  is  stationary, 
and  that  it  is  an  animate  substance ;  also  that  IkjIow  us  there  are  several  successive 
planes,  and  that  inhabitants  are  dwelling  uiMjn  them.  The  sun,  the  moon,  and  some 
of  the  stars  they  believe  revolve  around  the  earth,  but  some  of  the  stars  they  think 
are  stationary  and  stuck  up^n  the  sky.  They  believe  that  the  moon  is  inhabited  by 
a  man  and  a  dog.  As  to  the  stars,  they  know  nothing  of  their  nature.  They  con- 
sider the  sun  to  be  a  large  body  of  heat,  which  revolves  around  the  earth.  iSome 
think  it  is  a  ball  of  fire.  They  do  not  comprehend  the  revolution  of  the  earth  around 
the  sun.  They  suppose  that  the  sun  literally  rm-s  and  sets.  They  believe  the  sky 
to  be  a  material  mass  of  some  kind,  to  which  the  stars  are  appended.  They  think 
it  is  of  a  half-circular  form,  but  that  its  truncations  do  not  touch  the  earth.  They 
account  for  eclij)ses  by  saying  that  the  big  dog  swallows  the  sun,  but  they  have  no 
idea  where  the  big  dog  comes  from.  They  do  not  believe  that  intervening  objects 
arc  the  causes  of  the  eclijwes.  The  "  dead-sun"  is  accounted  'or  as  resulting  from 
the  fogs  going  up  from  the  earth;  and  they  suppose  that  this  fog  is  created  by  the 
smoke  of  fire,  and  sometimes  that  it  arises  from  the  rivers.  They  comj)ute  the  year 
from  the  budding  of  the  trees,  and  suppose  that  it  consists  of  an  indeiinite  iiamber 
of  moons.     They  have  no  astronomical  knowledge  of  the  length  of  the  year. 

They  have  no  cycle, — no  fixed  or  stated  period  at  the  end  of  which  they  believe 
the  world  will  come  to  a  clase.  But  they  say  the  world  will  be  destroyed  by  fire, 
and  that  when  this  period  arrives  the  earth  will  Im'  filled  with  war,  and  !>  body  of 
people  will  appear  among  the  Indians,  and  they  will  be  destroyed,  and  then  the 
Great  Spirit  will  destroy  the  earth  to  keep  others  from  getting  possession  of  it.  They 
have  no  name  for  the  year  but  the  two  general  divisions,  winter  and  summer.  The 
month  and  week  are  divisions  unknown  to  them  generally.  They  consider  all  days 
alike.  The  day  is  not  subdivided  into  hours  or  any  other  portion  of  time.  They 
have  but  one  general  name  for  all  the  stars.  They  have  nothing  corresponding  to 
our  signs  of  the  zodiac.  They  do  not  attach  any  importance  or  influence  to  the  stars, 
except  the  meteoi-s  commonly  called  "shooting  stars."  The  meteoric  ilust  wliich  falls 
from  these  they  suppose  to  be  excrement  cast  upon  the  earth :  this  they  mix  with 
their  medicine,  and,  when  thus  prepared,  consider  it  very  efficacious.  They  do  not 
Ix'lieve  that  the  moon  has  any  influence  upon  men,  plants,  or  animals.  Corn  is 
|ilanted  with  regard  to  the  particular  periods  of  the  moon.  There  is  nothing  known 
among  them  of  the  moon's  intlui'ucing  tiie  gn»wtli  of  corn. 

The  aurora  borealis  they  sui)p()se  imlicates  changes  in  the  weather,  and  always 

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TUB  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STA  TES. 


for  the  worse.  Tho  Milky  Way  they  consider  to  bo  the  paths  of  the  npirits,  but  the 
Hpirita  of  whom  or  of  what  they  do  not  know.  Coineta  they  think  indicate  war,  but 
of  their  nature  they  know  notliing.  Tiie  phenomenon  of  falling  aUin  they  explain 
by  saying  that  tho  falling  body  is  efHoacious  for  medicinal  purposes.  The  Winne- 
bagoes  believe  the  aurora  borcalis  is  produced  by  a  bad  spirit,  and  that  it  is  ominous 
of  death.  They  call  the  Milky  Way  "  tho  road  of  the  dead."  They  cannot  account 
for  comets  or  meteors,  but  consider  them  ominous  of  calamities. 

The  Creeks  have  an  annual  "  busk,"  which  formerly  embraced  a  periotl  of  eight 
days,  but  now  covers  a  period  of  four  days ;  this  time  is  devoted  to  thanksgiving 
and  fasting.  It  resembles  very  much  the  year  of  jubilee  among  tho  Hebrews.  At 
the  return  of  this  festival  all  offences  are  cancelled.  It  commences  at  the  ripening 
of  the  now  crops,  at  which  time  a  general  purgation  and  cleansing  take  place.  At 
intervals  singing  and  dancing  are  introduced.  On  the  first  day  of  the  "  busketau" 
there  is  a  general  feast  prepared  from  the  old  crop,  to  which  all  contribute,  and 
attendance  upon  which  is  obligatory.  Sacred  fires  are  built,  upon  which  four  pieces 
of  green  oak  wood  are  arranged  in  positions  corresponding  with  the  four  cardinal 
jjoints  of  the  compass. 

They  count  by  decimals,  and  can  compute  up  to  millions.  Beyond  ten  the  digits 
are  employed  in  connection  with  the  decinuds,  and  this  method  is  used  to  any  extent. 
Each  perpendicular  stroke  stands  for  one,  and  each  additional  stroke  marks  an  ad- 
ditional number.  The  ages  of  deceased  jjcrsons,  or  the  number  of  scalps  taken  by 
them,  or  tiie  war-parties  which  they  have  headed,  are  recorded  on  their  grave-posts 
by  this  system  of  strokes.  The  sign  of  the  cross  represents  ten.  The  chronological 
marks  that  are  in  present  use  are  a  small  number  of  sticks,  made  generally  of  cane. 
Another  plan  sometimes  used  formerly  was  to  make  small  holes  in  a  board,  in  which 
u  peg  was  inserted,  to  record  the  days  of  the  week. 

They  use  herbs  and  incjintations  in  their  general  medical  practice.  They  are 
careful  and  tender  of  their  sick,  as  a  general  thing. 

The  CrtH;k  nation  is  divided  into  two  districts,  the  Arkansas  and  the  Canadian. 
The  officers  consist  of  a  i)rincipal  and  a  second  chief,  who  are  chosen  by  the  general 
council ;  in  addition,  each  district  has  two  principal  chiefs,  chosen  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  two  principal  chiefs  of  the  nation.  Each  district  is  governe<l  by  the 
same  laws.  Every  hundred  persons  have  a  right  to  elect  a  chief,  who  represents 
them  in  general  council.  The  tribe  is  divided  into  several  clans, — viz.,  Tiger,  Wind, 
IJear,  Wolf,  liird.  Fox,  Root,  Alligator,  Deer, — all  names  denoting  strength.  The 
tribe  appears  to  have  bet^n  organizeil  originally  on  the  totemic  plan,  each  clan  bear- 
ing the  name  of  some  bird  or  animal.  The  only  utility  of  the  division  into  clans 
appears  to  be  to  denote  those  objects  in  which  they  take  the  greatest  delight.  They 
are  indicative  of  the  original  families,  and  also  of  distinguished  chiefs  of  the  tribe. 
Clans  are  a  sign  of  kindred.  The  devices  were  not  their  names.  They  are  not 
governed  by  distinct  chiefs.  The  cliieftainships  were  not  originally  hereditary.  The 
descent  wiis  formerly  in  tho  fcinah;  line;  but  this  custom  has  iK'come  extinct,  and  tho 
chiefs  are  now  chosen  by  the  council. 


itWK"!' 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


227 


Tho  general  council  of  the  Creek  Indians  consiBte  of  a  rcprcHcntation  from  the 
whole  tribe,  a»  divided  into  towns.  This  council,  composed  of  the  chiefs,  is  vested 
witli  plenary  power  to  act  for  the  whole  tribe.  Their  verbal  sunnnons  or  decisions 
have  all  the  force  of  a  written  document.  These  decisions  arc  announced  in  general 
council,  and  also  recorded  by  the  clerk.  The  authority  ot  the  members  of  the 
council  (as  among  the  principal  chiefs)  is  often  assumed ;  and  in  many  cases  it  is 
delegated  to  them  by  virtue  of  their  stjinding  and  influence.  They  are  at  all  times 
open  to  popular  opinion,  and  are  the  mere  exponents  of  it.  The  power  of  the  chiefs 
in  council  is  unlimited.  Their  decisions  are  absolute.  The  principal  chiefs  are 
appointed  by  the  general  council,  and  at  present  are  not  chosen  so  nmch  for  their 
renowned  deeds  as  for  their  civil  and  popular  qualifications.  Their  term  of  office 
continues  during  good  behavior.  The  disa]>proval  of  the  body  of  the  people  is  an 
effective  bar  to  the  exercise  of  their  powers  and  functions. 

The  chiefs  in  public  council  speiik  the  opinions  and  sentiments  of  the  warriors. 
In  local  matters  they  consult  the  priests,  old  men,  and  young  men  composing  the 
tribe.  Sometimes  they  are  subject  to  be  influenced  by  extraneous  opinions.  In 
many  cases  they  watch  over  the  interests  of  the  people  with  shrewdness  and  intcii- 
nity.  In  their  councils  their  decisions  are  generally  determined  by  the  oj)inions  of 
the  leading  chiefs,  whose  dictum  usually  inUuences  the  mass.  The  right  to  sit  in 
council  is  nominally  equivalent  to  giving  a  vote.  Tho  ayes  and  noes,  if  counted, 
would  be  taken  by  the  clerk.  Casting  the  vote,  however,  has  not  been  introduced 
among  the  Creeks.  Powers  are  sometimes  exercised  by  the  chiefs  in  advance  of 
I)ublic  opinion,  but  anything  gross  or  outrageous  would  be  indignantly  repelled. 

The  public  or  general  councils  are  opened  with  a  good  deal  of  ceremony.  The 
principal  chiefs  first  enter  and  take  their  seats.  The  next  in  order  then  enter,  and, 
addressing  themselves  to  the  whole  body,  ask,  "Are  you  all  i)resent,  my  friends?" 
They  then  take  their  seats.  The  principal  chief,  rising  from  his  seat,  presents  to  the 
second  chief  his  tobacco ;  and  this  interchange  takes  place  throughout  the  whole 
jiKsembly.  These  interchanges  having  been  gone  through  with,  they  next  spejik 
about  their  domestic  affiiira ;  then  local  matters  are  discussed ;  after  which  they 
proceed  to  business.  Their  business  is  conducted  irregularly,  daily,  and  generally 
with  regard  to  the  position  of  the  sun.  The  principal  chief  adjourns  the  council  to 
the  appointed  time  next  day.  Before  the  close  of  their  deliberations  the  two  bodies 
agree  u{)on  a  day  of  final  adjournment.  At  the  appointed  time  for  adjournment  tho 
two  bodies  come  together.  The  second  chiefs,  rising  first,  address  themselves  to  the 
first  chiefs,  telling  them  "  they  are  going  to  leave  them."  They  then  seat  themselves, 
the  whole  council  following  in  regular  order  according  to  their  grade.  The  prin- 
cipal chiefs,  then  rising,  say,  "  We  return  home."  There  is  still  some  respect  paid 
to  ancient  ceremonies.  Regard  also  is  paid  to  the  weather  in  their  deliberations. 
They  have  two  national  clerks,  and  one  United  States  and  one  national  interpreter. 
All  questions  are  considered  with  more  or  less  deliberation.  There  arc  no  cases  that 
HMpiire  absolute  unanimity.  There  may  be  cases  in  which  the  voice  of  a  leading 
chief  might  be  taken  as  the  will  of  the  tribe. 


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228 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Decisions  made  by  the  chief's  in  eonncil  are  carried  into  effect  with  unquestioning 
obedience.  In  cases  of  caj)ital  punisliment,  the  executioner  is  selected  from  a  body 
of  men  called  "  the  Light  Horse."  He  uses  neither  tomahawk,  club,  nor  arrow. 
The  gun  is  generally  employed  ixa  the  instrument  of  execution.  If  the  culprit  has 
no  choice  of  place  for  executioi:,  the  executioner  may  appoint  the  j)lace,  which  is 
usually  selected  with  reference  to  convenience  for  burial.  In  case  of  the  restoration 
of  i)roperty,  a  messenger  is  sent  to  the  parties.  There  is,  however,  no  regularity  on 
this  subject. 

In  case  of  a  vacancy  by  death  or  otlierwise,  the  office  is  fiiled  by  the  selection  of 
the  general  council.  iSometimes  the  vacancy  is  lilled  by  the  town  to  which  the  chief 
belonged,  and  then  tli>^  matter  l)r()ug]it  before  the  general  council  for  suiiction.  In 
case  of  a  vacancy  among  the  Icailing  chiefs,  it  is  filled  by  the  general  council.  The 
chiefs  may  be  deposed  from  olHce  for  gross  outrage.  The  eiislom  of  wearing  medals 
is  an  ancient  one,  but  is  gnidually  falling  into  disuse.  There  are  but  few  tiiut  wear 
(hem.  The  medals  received  from  the  (  uited  !Stat<'s  are  valued  and  picsewed,  but 
are  not  worn. 

Tlie  ])riesthood  or  pliysic-makers  do  not  constitute  a  distinct  power  in  the  gov- 
ernment. They  do  not  sit  in  tlie  council  as  a  priesthood,  and  their  advice  in  political 
matti  rs  is  not  resorted  to.  Sometimes,  however,  in  local  matters  their  conjurations 
have  influence.  The  weather,  about  the  time  of  the  distribution  of  the  annuity,  in 
some  parts  of  the  nation,  falls  under  tlie  scrutiny  of  the  physic-makers.  Among 
tlie  Creeks  tiiere  is  no  such  tiling  as  selling  or  ceding  of  lands.  " //  in  for  me,  fur 
thcc,  and  for  all"     Sometimes,  however,  iiii[)rovemeiits  are  disposed  of 

The  powers  of  a  civil  chief  and  tliose  of  a  war  cliief  are  often  united  in  the  same 
person.  Tlie  distinction  between  war  chiefs  and  civil  ciiiefs  is  sc.i.i'cly  known. 
There  is  a  limit  when  a  young  man  may  express  his  opinion;  this  is  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one.  The  matrons  iiave  no  rights  whatever  in  ''ouncil.  They  \\\iw  no 
separate  seat  in  council.  I'hey  have  no  preserip.ive  right  of  i>eing  heard  by  an 
oilicial  pei's(»n  who  bears  the  character  of  a  messenger  from  the  women.  The  widows 
of  di,' tinguisiied  chiefs,  or  tiiose  of  acknowledged  wisdom,  are  never  a(bnitted  to  sit  in 
council.  The  Creeks  !iave  a  right  to  summon  a  general  council  of  the  tribes.  These 
councils  may  be  called  for  any  purpose,  and  l>y  any  of  tlie  triites.  A  general  council 
of  the  tribes  was  held  at  Talile(juali,  Cherokee  Nation,  about  the  year  1<S4;{. 

F(ninerly,  '.iiere  a  niunler  had  lurn  committed,  the  brother  of  the  deceased 
avenged  the  murder;  if  there  was  no  brother,  then  the  iliity  devolved  upon  the 
nearest  relative.  Among  the  Ciei'ks  now,  lio>vever,  the  iiiiirderer  undergoes  a  reg- 
i;!  ir  ti'ial  liv'fore  some  of  the  leading  chiefs  of  the  nation,  and  is  dealt  with  according 
to  tiieir  decision.  If  an  Indian  shouhl  murder  a  negro,  the  law  is  sutisiied  with  the 
value  of  the  negro  being  paiil  to  the  owner.  The  lapse  of  time  and  the  fleeing  of  the 
murderer  generally  allay  resentment  an<l  lead  to  coin  promises.  After  the  annual 
"  busk"  all  olfeiices  are  cancelled,  '{"here  is  no  distinction  niadt'  between  tlii' male 
aii<l  the  female  iti  the  estimate  of  life.  Debts  of  lieensed  trad(is  are  sometimes 
brought  before  the  cniincil  for  adjudication.     The  cliiels  generally  have  a  sufficient 


'I 


H5 


f^:V 


MANN-URS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


229 


knowledge  of  mimbci's  to  enable  them  to  act  with  prudence.  A  message  accom- 
panied with  wampum  is  never  sent  in  case  of  private  disputes  or  of  controversies 
among  the  tribes. 

DAKOTA   CUSTOMS. 

The  Dakotas  believe  that  the  Great  Spirit  made  all  things  except  rice  and 
thunder.  They  count  time  by  seasons, — spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  winter,  which 
is  reckoned  as  one  year.  Twenty-eight  days  or  nights  are  counted  one  moon,  and 
each  month  or  moon  hiis  a  name, — viz.,  January,  the  severe  or  hard  moon ;  Feb- 
ruary, the  moon  in  which  raccoons  run;  March,  the  moon  of  sore  eyes;  April,  the 
moon  during  which  the  geese  lay  ;  May,  the  n>oon  for  planting;  June,  the  moon  for 
strawberries  and  hoeing  corn;  July,  midsumKijr ;  August,  the  moon  when  corn  is 
gathered  ;  September,  the  Tuoon  when  they  gather  wild  rice ;  OctolK-r  and  November, 
the  moon  when  the  does  run ;   Decemlter,  the  m(K)n  when  the  deer  shed  their  horns. 

They  have  no  particular  place  for  their  departed  souls.  They  say  there  are  large 
cities  somewhere  in  the  heavens  where  they  will  go,  but  believe  they  will  still  be  at 
war  with  their  former  enemies,  and  will  have  plenty  of  game. 

Time  diminishes,  in  their  view,  the  obligation  to  pay  a  debt,  because,  they  say, 
the  white  people  can  get  goods  by  merely  going  after  them  or  writing  for  them,  and 
that  Avhen  a  trader  obtains  a  new  supply  of  goods  he  is  not  in  want  of  the  <lebts  due 
liim,  and  that  tiie  Indian  is  in  greater  need  of  the  amcmnt  than  the  trader  is.  There- 
fore they  often  cheat  the  trader  l)y  soiling  iiis  furs  to  some  person  to  whom  they  are 
not  indel)ted.  If  an  Indian  has  bad  luck  in  hunting,  be  says  it  is  caused  by  the 
misconduct  of  some  of  his  family,  or  by  some  enemy;  that  is,  his  family  have  not 
properly  oljscrved  the  laws  of  honoring  the  spirits  of  tiie  d(!ad,  or  some  one  owes  him 
a  grudge,  and  by  supiTuatural  powers  has  ciuiscd  his  bad  success  and  misery,  for 
which  he  will  take  revenge  on  tiie  perscm  he  suspects  the  first  time  an  opportunity 
(iMVrs.  Many  of  the  Indians,  bowi-ver,  are  punctual  in  paying  their  debts  as  tiir  as 
iii'r  in  their  power.  Tiiere  is  a  general  inclination  to  ,  ay  tlieir  national  debts,  which 
are,  l>y  Indian  ruK',  iii<lividual  di'bts  of  sncli  long  standing  that  they  cannot  pay  them 
wilhin  themselves.  They  know  they  all  owe  their  traders,  and  they  are  willing  to 
make  it  a  national  Imsint'ss  to  pay  them.  As  to  the  value  of  property  in  skins  and 
lars,  they  always  overestimate  it.  Intleed,  any  kind  of  property  that  they  are  judges 
of  is  valued  too  high,  and  they  often  sntVer  in  conse(pienee.  There  are  cases  where 
Indians  have  sold  the  same  article  twice,  but  this  rarely  happens. 

The  Indians  say  it  is  lawful  to  take  revenge,  but  otherwise  it  is  not  right  to  take 
their  fellow's  blood;  they  consider  it  a  great  crime.  When  murder  is  committed, 
thev  regard  the  victim  as  injured,  and  not  the  (ireat  Spirit,  because  all  have  a  right 
to  live.  They  have  very  little  notion  of  punishment  for  crime  hereafter;  indeed, 
thev  know  very  little  about  whether  the  (ireat  Spirit  has  iinything  t(»  do  with  their 
nil'airs,  present  or  future.  All  the  fear  t'ley  have  is  of  thi'  spirit  of  the  departed. 
They  stand  in  great  awe  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  because  they  think  it  is  in  the 
|)Ower  of  the  departed  spirits  to  injure  them   in  any  way  they  please.     Thi^  .-iupcr- 


\    '» 


lilli-l'ii:':' 


230 


TUE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


stition  has  in  some  mesisure  a  salutnry  eftbct.  It  operates  on  them  just  as  strongly  as 
the  fear  of  being  hung  does  on  the  wliite  man.  Indeed,  fear  of  punishment  from 
the  departed  spiiits  keeps  them  in  greater  awe  than  tlie  fear  of  hanging  does  the 
evil-disposed  among  the  white  race. 

The  Deity,  they  say,  is  always  offended  with  them.  They  do  not  know  by  what 
means  they  were  created,  and  when  any  calamity  befalls  them  they  do  not  under- 
stand why.  Large  stones  are  painted  and  worshipped ;  these  stones  they  call  their 
grandfathers.  For  the  expiation  of  sins  a  sacrifice  is  made  of  some  kind  of  animal. 
Sometimes  the  skins  of  animals,  dressed,  sometimes  rare  pieces  of  white  cotton  and 
new  blanket.'*,  are  made  use  of  for  sacrifices,  all  of  which  are  suspended  in  the  air. 

The  practice  of  lying  they  consider  very  rej)rehensible.  In  this  respect  every 
one  sees  the  mote  in  his  brother's  eye,  but  does  not  discover  the  beam  that  is  in  his 
own.  Many  of  them  would  like  to  see  falsehood  punished,  but  have  not  the  moral 
stiunina  to  speak  truth  themselves.  Many  even  desire  to  reward  truth,  but  very 
seldom  have  the  ability  to  do  so. 

Veneration  for  parents  and  for  old  age  is  very  great  in  some  Indians,  and  they 
all  feel  it  for  tlie  dead.  Their  priests  or  jugglers,  also,  are  greatly  venerated,  but  it 
is  from  fear  of  some  supernatural  punishment  as  much  as  from  anything  else.  The 
Indians  are  very  remarkable  for  their  fear  of  uttering  certain  names.  The  father-in- 
law  nnist  not  call  the  :jon-in-law  by  name,  neither  luust  the  mother-in-law,  and  the 
son-in-law  must  not  call  his  father-in-law  or  mother-in-law  by  name.  There  are 
also  many  others  in  the  line  of  relationship  who  cannot  call  one  another  by  mnne. 
InsUmces  have  occurred  where  the  forliidden  name  luus  boon  called,  and  the  offenders 
were  ])unislu'd  liy  having  all  their  clotliing  cut  from  their  backs  and  thrown  away. 
Indian  children  sometimes,  but  very  rarely,  strike  their  parents.  Tiie  punishment 
is  generally  a  blow  in  return.  Tliere  are  no  accounts  of  Indians  having  been  stoneil 
to  deatli.  Indians  have  been  known  to  be  killed,  however,  in  a  drunken  riot,  both 
witli  stones  and  clubs. 

Tiiere  are  cases  where  the  Indians  say  retaliation  is  wrong,  and  they  try  to  pre- 
vent it,  and  sometimes  succeed  in  jiacifying  the  jiarties.  If  a  bad  deed  is  done,  and 
the  ofi'ender  is  piinisiicd  in  some  way,  tiiey  say  lie  has  got  what  he  gave.  A  person 
of  bad  character  among  the  Indians  is  scorned  by  tiiem,  l)ut  from  fear  of  his  cutting 
llieir  lodges,  killing  their  horses,  or  doing  .some  mischief,  tiiey  are  ol)liged  to  invite 
him  to  llieir  feasts.  A  bad  man  often  runs  at  large  among  the  Jiidiaiis  for  years  on 
account  of  the  above-nameil  fears.  They  even  are  obliged  to  let  him  join  in  llieir 
great  mediciiK-danee. 

The  chastity  of  the  women  is  nineh  more  regarded  by  llii'  Indians  than  many 
jieople  would  suppose.  There  are  but  few  lewd,  loose  women  among  them,  and  only 
a  few  will  drink  anient  spirits. 

'J'lie  Dakolas  believe  that  the  Deity  consists  of  two  persons,  or,  as  they  express  it, 
"  the  ( ireat  Spirit  and  his  wife."  'i'hey  do  not  believe  tliiit  they  will  have  to  give 
an  account  of  their  deeds  in  another  world.  Some  of  the  Indians  say  that  death  is 
caused   by  the  (ireat   Spirit,  others  that    it    is  caused  by  the  supernatural  power  of 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


231 


individuals.  All  evil,  they  say,  comes  from  the  heart;  hut  who  or  what  implanted 
it  there  they  know  not.  The  Indians  know  nothing  of  the  devil  except  what  the 
white  people  have  told  them.  All  the  punishment  they  expect  to  receive  is  in  this 
world.  They  fear  the  persons  they  have  offended  and  the  spirits  of  the  dead  more 
than  anything  else. 

They  have  no  images  of  wood  that  they  worship,  nor  have  they  any  edifices  for 
puhlic  worship.  An  Indian  will  pick  up  a  round  stone  of  any  kind  and  paint  it, 
and  go  a  few  rods  from  his  lodge  and  clean  away  the  grass,  say  from  cue  to  two  feet 
in  diameter,  and  there  place  his  stone,  or  god,  as  he  would  term  it,  and  make  au 
offering  of  some  tobacco  and  some  feathers,  and  pray  to  the  stone  to  deliver  him  from 
some  danger  that  he  has  probably  dreamed  of,  or  imagines.  The  Indians  believe  in 
ihe  immortality  of  the  soul,  but  as  for  accountability  they  have  but  a  vague  idea  of 
it.  Future  rewards  and  punishments  they  have  no  conception  of.  All  that  they  can 
say  respecting  the  soul  is  that  when  it  leaves  the  body  it  goes  southward,  but  of  its 
])lace  of  abode  they  have  no  fixed  idea.  They  believe  that  each  soul  acts  for  itself. 
They  think  that  in  the  future  state  they  will  continue  to  be  at  enmity  with  their 
former  enemies.  As  many  a.s  four  souls  inhabit  one  person,  as  with  the  bear,  which 
tiie  Indians  say  luis  four  spirits ;  and  they  also  l)elieve  that  some  other  animals  have 
souls. 

The  Indians  believe  that  many  animals  have  the  power  to  injure  them  by  a 
migrating  movement.  In  many  cases  where  iin  Indian  is  taken  sick  he  attributes 
ills  sickness  to  some  biped,  quadruped,  or  ampliibious  aiiinu.  but  they  charge  some 
of  their  own  people  with  being  tiie  cause  of  some  aninuils  torturing  them  with  sick- 
ness, and  the  only  way  they  have  of  driving  the  animal  from  the  sick  is  to  make 
something  similar  to  it  of  bark,  and  sliodt  it  tn  j)ic(es.  The  following  are  the 
Indians'  laws  of  prohibition,  and  if  these  are  not  obeyed  some  one  of  the  family  has 
to  suffer,  so  that  they  are  almost  always  in  trouble.  A  woman  must  not  step  over 
;i  turtle.  None  of  the  fiunily  must  stick  an  awl  or  a  needle  into  a  turtle:  if  they  do, 
the  turtle  will  surely  punish  them  for  it  at  some  fiHure  time.  The  same  law  holds 
i;cio(l  with  respect  to  a  raccoon,  a  fisher,  a  bear,  si  wolf,  a  fish, — in  fact,  almost  any 
iinimal.  It  is  the  same  with  a  stick  of  wood  on  the  fire.  No  person  nuist  chop  on  it 
with  an  axe  or  a  knife,  or  stick  an  a'vl  into  it  If  he  does,  some  one  will  either  cut 
liinisclf  or  will  wound  his  foot  with  a  splinter.  Neither  nuist  a  coal  be  taken  from 
the  lire  with  a  knife  or  any  other  sharp  instrument.  A  woman  must  not  ride  or 
Kiidle  a  horse,  or  handle  the  sack  used  for  war  purposes.  A  wonuin  must  renuiin 
out  of  doors  during  the  time  of  her  n»enstruation,  and  the  war-implenu'iits  must  hang 
out  of  doors  during  that  time.  An  Indian  hiis  been  known  to  pray  to  a  bear  he  had 
shot  because  he  feared  that  some  other  bear  might  take  the  wounded  animal's  jiart, 
;md  perhaps  tear  him  to  pieces.  If  a  bear  attacks  an  Indian  and  tears  him,  the 
Imliim  will  say  at  once  that  the  bear  was  angry  with  liini.  Indians  talk  and  reason 
with  a  horse  the  .same  its  they  would  with  a  humau  being.  If  a  horse  should  run 
away,  I  he  owner  would  say  the  horse  wa.s  displea.sed  Ijcause  he  had  not  given  him  a 
licit  or  a  piece  of  scarlet  cloth  to  wear  abont  his  neck. 


ik  ■> 


232 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUE   UNITED  STATES. 


The  red  hand  spoken  of  by  Mr.  Stevens,  Oo  seen  on  the  wulls  of  the  ruins  in 
Central  America,  is  a  very  common  thing  among  the  Dakotas.  One  will  sometimes 
see  a  row  of  the  stamps  of  the  whole  hand,  with  red  paint,  on  their  blankets.  This 
denotes  that  the  wearer  has  been  woimded  in  action  by  an  enemy.  If  the  stamp  is 
Avith  black  \vAuii,  it  denotes  that  he  hii.s  killed  an  enemy  in  action. 

The  clans  in  the  great  medicine-dance  are  kej)t  secret.  The  Indians  that  are  not 
nienibcrs  of  the  dance  know  no  more  about  it  than  the  white  people.  They  have 
many  fea.st.s  that  they  call  religious  feiists.  There  are  two  societies :  one  is  the  medi- 
cine society,  the  others  are  not  members  of  the  medicine  society ;  still,  out  of  these 
feasts  and  dances  they  have  no  distinction, — all  are  on  an  equal  footing.  In  the 
great  medicine-dance  there  are  a.sKociated  people  of  all  sorts  and  morals^, — the  mur- 
derer, the  drunkard,  the  adulterer,  the  thief,  etc.  Still,  it  is  a  mysterious  thing,  and 
probably  more  of  a  secret  than  Freemasonry;  for  there  are  instances  where  tiic  secrets 
of  Freemasonry  liave  been  divulged,  but  those'  of  the  great  medicine-dance  of  the 
Dakota.s  have  never  been  revealed.  Apparently  there  is  no  more  wisdom  among 
the  medicine  party  than  there  is  in  those  that  do  not  belong  to  it.  Neither  are  they 
more  artful,  except  in  doing  mischief,  and  in  keeping  the  people  in  ignorance. 
They  oppose  everything  that  tends  to  enlighten  them.  Could  their  absurd  })ractices 
be  broken  up,  no  doubt  this  people  would  listen  to  good  counsel ;  but  the  medicine 
party  claim  to  be  j)ossessed  of  su])eruatural  powers  ;  therefore  ihey  inspire  fear,  and 
so  their  dupes  end  their  days  in  awe  of  this  imaginary  power.  As  for  songs,  they 
have  no  long  ones;  three  or  four  words  is  about  the  length  of  them.  They  have  a 
number  of  tunes  or  choruses,  which  they  sing  on  many  occasions  nt  feasts,  dances,  etc. 

As  to  tlu'ir  belief  in  evil  spirits,  they  do  iKit  understaiio  the  diU'crence  between  a 
great  good  spirit  and  a  great  evil  s[iirit,  as  we  do.  Tiie  idea  that  the  Indians  !iav(i 
is  that  a  spirit  ciiii  be  good  when  necessary,  and  can  do  evil  if  it  thinks  (it.  The 
rattlesnake  is  iniich  feared  !)y  them,  and  in  fact  nil  kinds  of  snakes  are  looked  upon 
with  liorror;  still,  tiiev  will  not  kill  one  of  (lieiii.  They  use  the  skin  of  tiie  rattle- 
snake in  tlie  great  medieine-diince.  Tiie  rattles  are  also  ke])t  in  their  ineilieiiie-biigs. 
The  Indians  say  that  if  they  kill  a  rattlesnake  some  other  one  will  bite  them  for  so 
doing.  Indians  sometimes  smoke  to  serpent.s,  and  ask  them  to  be  friendly  to  them, 
and  go  awav  and  leave  tliem.  Soiaelinns  thev  will  leavi'  a  piece  of  tobacco  as  a 
jieace-otlering. 

The  honor  tliat  is  paid  to  the  turtle,  the  wolf,  and  the  bear  is  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  peace  with  them,  for  they  fear  that  they  can  supernaturally  send  diseases 
upon  them.  This  myth  is  kept  up  by  the  clans  of  the  medicine  party,  and  probahlv 
in  some  instances  deters  them  from  injuring  one  aiiolher. 

They  have  a  name  for  each  of  the  four  cardinal  point.s,  which  are  described  as 
follows:  the  way  of  the  sitting  sun  is  west,  the  situation  of  the  pines  is  north,  t!ie 
way  the  sun  rises  is  east,  the  downward  direction  is  south.  There  is  supposed  to  he 
an  animal  in  the  water  which  has  large  horns,  and  which  they  call  I'nk-n-tit-hr. 
They  pretend  to  he  in  possession  of  its  Itones,  in  snu'.ll  jueees,  which  thev  value 
very  highly  for  nie.licine. 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


283 


The  Dakotas  believe  in  fairies  of  the  water,  and  say  they  often  see  them  in  all 
shapeH  of  animals ;  they  think  them  vicions,  and  consider  the  appearance  of  one  an 
omen  of  some  calamity  that  is  to  befall  them.  They  believe  there  are  fairies  of  the 
land  as  well  iis  of  the  water.  There  are  local  spirits  inhabiting  almost  all  parts  of 
the  Indian  country, — as  clilfs,  mountains,  rivei-s,  lakes,  etc.;  they  believe  these  spirits 
trouble  them  often.  The  only  fabled  monsters  are  the  Giant  and  the  Unk-a-ta-he ; 
the  Giant  surpasses  all  in  power,  and  th'j  Unk-a-ta-he  comes  next.  The  Giant,  or 
lla-o-kuh,  can  kill  anything  it  looks  at  merely  by  its  piercing  eyes;  the  UuK-a- 
ta-he  has  great  power,  and  can  even  kill  the  thunder. 

Thunder  is  a  large  bird,  tbny  riiiy ;  hence  its  velocity.  The  rumbling  noise  of 
thunder  is  caused  by  an  immense  quantity  of  young  birds ;  it  is  commenced  by  the 
old  bird,  and  carried  on  by  the  yoi.ng  birds :  this  is  the  cause  of  the  long  duration 
of  the  i)eals  of  thunder.  The  Indian  says  it  is  the  young  birds,  or  thunders,  that 
do  the  mischief;  they  are  like  young  mischievous  men  who  will  not  listen  to  good 
counsel.  The  old  thunder,  or  bird,  is  wise  and  good,  and  does  not  kill  anybody,  or 
do  any  kind  of  mischief 

The  Dakotas  have  a  degree  of  relationship  three  and  four  generations  back.  The 
old  women  generally  keep  this  account,  and  are  very  correct.  They  have  no  sur- 
names, but  always  live  near  together ;  their  houses  are  not  more  than  ten  feet  apart. 
Tiiey  cannot  well  forget  their  relationshij) ;  the  father's  name,  iis  well  as  tiiat  of  tJie 
iiiuther,  is  recollected  for  three  or  four  generations.  They  are  nut  named  after  either 
of  the  parents;  an  Indian  may  be  called  a  White  Spider,  and  his  son  a  White 
Whale  or  lied  Eull'alo ;  and  so  with  a  woman.  The  mother  may  l)e  called  the 
Checkered  Cloud,  and  the  (hiughter  may  be  called  Gray  Hand  or  lied  Bhinket.  The 
same  names  are  not  used  for  elder  brotiier  and  younger.  Tin  lirst  male  chihl  may 
lie  named  Chiska ;  the  sec(md,  Ha})an ;  the  third,  llape;  the  fourth,  Chahlun;  the 
liflh,  llah-ka;  the  first  female,  Wenvonah ;  the  second,  llalipim  ;  the  third,  Ilaii- 
pistinah;  tiie  fourth,  Wauska  ;  the  fifth,  Wehahka.  If  there  are  any  more  born, 
lliey  have  to  give  tiiem  some  otlier  name,  for  tiiey  have  no  more  regidar  names  fur 
iliililnn  ;  and  after  a  short  time  these  names  are  changed  to  some  outlandish  ones. 
Aunt  and  uncle  are  tlu;  same  on  liutli  sitles.  The  names  of  the  deceased  are  seldom 
spoken  i>y  the  Indians;  they  say  such  a  one's  brotlu'r  or  sister,  uni'le  or  aunt,  as  the 
case  may  be,  is  dead.  All  Indian  names  are  peculiar  to  their  habits  and  customs ; 
I  lie  men  liave  dilferent  expressions  from  the  womi'U,  and  new  beginners  are  laughed 
at  fnMpiently  iiy  l)oth  men  and  women.  To  a  man  they  say,  "  You  talk  like  a 
won  m,"  and  tu  a  woman,  "  You  talk  like  a  man."  Tiie  languages  of  all  the  nations 
ditl'er  so  nuu'h  that  they  cannot  understand  one  another. 

The  hunter  does  not  furnish  abundance  of  food  and  cluthiii;^  Now  and  then  an 
Indian  will  provide  al>undance  of  venison  for  his  family  fur  a  month  or  two  in  the 
winter.  Some  of  them  do  not  kill  mure  than  frum  two  to  ten  deer  during  the  winter 
lumts.  Some  kill  from  ten  to  fifty.  Those  that  have  guud  luck  feed  the  pour. 
Cluthiiig  the  Indian  (tbtains  in  credit  frum  the  traders,  paying  from  uiie-lialf  tu  iwu- 
liiirds  of  ihe  amniint. 


234 


TUE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


There  is  but  little  order  in  the  lodge.  Children  act  much  ns  they  please,  and 
every  Indian  is  a  king  in  his  own  lodge.  The  children  generally  roll  themselves  up 
in  their  blankets  by  themselves ;  that  is,  after  they  are  four,  five,  or  six  years  old. 
Under  this  age  they  generally  sleep  with  their  parents  or  grandparents.  There  is  a 
fixed  scat  for  the  man,  and  one  for  the  wife.  The  woman  sits  next  the  door,  and  the 
man  sits  next  to  her,  or  in  the  back  part  of  the  lodge.  As  the  woman  lias  all  the 
drudgery  to  do,  she  nits  next  the  door,  so  as  to  be  able  to  get  out  readily.  The  woman 
has  one  particular  v/ay  of  sitting.  She  always  draws  her  feet  up  under  her  to  the 
right  side,  and  will  thus  sit  for  hours  sometimes ;  a  position  no  white  person  could 
remain  in  twenty  minutes.  The  man  tumbles  and  lounges  about  as  he  jileases.  They 
all  sit  Hat  upon  the  ground  on  some  straw  and  skins  of  different  kinds.  This  is  in 
the  lodge.  The  summer-house  is  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  long,  and  fifteen  to 
twenty  wide,  with  a  platform  on  each  side  about  two  feet  high  and  six  wide.  On  this 
I)latform  they  all  sleep  in  summer ;  generally  four  families  in  a  lodge,  sometimes 
more.  If  there  are  four  families,  each  one  will  have  a  corner,  and  if  there  are 
more  (young  married  people,  for  instance)  they  take  the  middle. 

They  are  diffident,  and  have  some  respect  for  strangers,  and  are  more  modest 
before  them  than  at  other  times.  Their  habits  and  customs  are  not  the  same  in 
winter  as  in  summer.  In  the  winter  they  have  no  particular  hours  for  eating.  If 
they  have  plenty,  they  eat  often  ;  if  not,  they  make  one  or  two  meals  per  day  suffice. 
In  the  common  meals  they  seldom  offer  up  thanks.  Sometimes  an  Indian  will  say, 
"  Wall  negli  on  she  wan  da ;"  which  means,  Spirits  of  the  dead,  have  mercy  on  me. 
Then  they  will  add  what  they  want ;  if  good  weather,  they  say  so ;  if  good  luck  in 
hunting,  they  say  so.  Their  appetites  are  capricious,  admitting  of  great  powers  of 
abstinence  and  of  rejiletion. 

When  an  Indian  dies,  he  is  wrapped  up  in  the  clothes  he  died  in  and  is  laid  upon 
a  scaffold.  If  his  friends  think  enough  of  him  to  cover  him  decently,  they  do  so  by 
throwing  new  blankets,  white,  scarlet,  etc.,  over  him.  Calico  is  also  thrown  over  the 
dead  body  in  some  instances.  As  many  as  Uni  blankets  are  thrown  over  a  corpse, 
l)ut  these  do  not  remain.  When  the  c<)r[)se  is  al)an(lone(l,  these  are  all  taken  off'  but 
one.  The  rest  are  kept  to  make  a  great  inedicine-dance  with  for  the  repose  of  the 
spirits.  A  few  words  are  addressed  to  the  spirit  of  the  (le|)arted,  and  all  present 
burst  into  a  Hood  of  tears  and  wailing.  The  purport  of  the  address  is  for  the  spirit 
to  remain  in  his  own  place,  and  not  disturb  his  friends  and  relatives;  and  promises 
are  made  on  the  part  of  the  mourners  to  be  faithful  in  keeping  their  laws  and  cus- 
toms in  making  feasts  for  the  departeil  spirits.  The  custom  of  lairying  implements 
witli  the  (lead  is  not  practised  except  by  particular  rcfpiest.  This  is  done  in  onler 
thai  the  spirit  may  iiiaki'  use  of  the  implements  the  same  as  in  this  life, — to  earn  a 
livelihiHid  with  fbeni. 

The  Dakotas  gather  tlie  bones  of  the  d<>ad  about  a  year  af\er  they  have  been 
jdaceij  on  the  >i  afl'old.  and  mourn  over  them  for  the  last  time  as  a  final  honor  to  tlie 
nniains.  Tlie  cerei:niny  is  piililic,  and  much  grief  is  displayed.  The  wouien  neurify 
ttiemselves,  aii^i  <itI  riieir  long  liair  off  to  ai)onl    half  its  oriirinal   leiii:;tli.     'i'lie  men 


MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


235 


black  their  faces  and  bodies,  wear  old  clothes,  and  go  barefoot.  The  women  also 
wear  their  old  garments,  go  barefoot  and  barelegged,  and  tear  the  borders  off  their 
petticoats.  The  dead  are  lamented  by  wailing  at  the  top  of  the  mourners'  voices. 
They  can  be  heard  for  two  or  three  miles  on  a  calm  evening.  For  one  year  tliey 
visit  the  ])lace  of  the  dead,  carrying  food,  and  make  a  feast  to  feed  the  spirit  of  the 
departed.  The  Sioux  do  not  carry  images  of  the  departed,  but  the  Chippewsis  do. 
When  a  body  is  i)laced  upon  the  scaffold,  they  sometimes  light  a  fire  near  it.  They 
build  no  mounds,  but  sometimes  erect  grave-posts,  and  paint  characters  on  them 
denoting  the  number  of  enemies  killed,  prisoners  taken,  etc.,  by  the  deceased. 

The  orphans  go  to  some  of  the  nearest  relations.  Very  seldom  does  the  chief 
look  after  any  but  his  own,  and  he  is  generally  so  poor  that  he  cannot  take  care  even 
of  his  own  children  as  he  should  do.  Children  take  care  of  their  aged  parents ;  if 
tliere  are  none,  the  next  of  kin  take  care  of  them. 

The  Sioux  lodges  are  from  eight  to  fifteen  feet  in  diameter,  al)out  ten  to  fifteen 
feet  high,  and  made  of  buffalo-skins  thinned.  Elk-skins  arc  used  for  this  purpose 
also.  The  summer-house  is  built  of  wood,  or  jierches  set  upright,  twenty  or  thirty 
feet  long  by  fifteen  or  twenty  wide.  The  ])erches  are  set  in  the  ground  about  one 
foot,  and  are  about  six  feet  out  of  the  grounil.  Over  this  is  put  a  roof  of  elm  bark. 
They  are  very  comfortable  for  summer  use.  The  lodge  of  skin  lasts  three  or  four 
years ;  the  lodge  of  wood,  seven  or  eight  years.  The  skin  lodge  they  carry  about  on 
tiicir  backs  and  on  horses  through  all  their  winter  hunts.  It  is  made  in  the  shape 
of  a  funnel.  This  accommodates  from  five  to  ten  persons.  In  some  lodges,  the  Sioux 
(if  tiie  plains  say,  they  have  foiusted  fifty  warriors  with  ease.  About  four  square  feet 
is  what  one  person  would  occupy.     The  women  construct  and  remove  the  lodges. 

The  women  do  the  cooking.  Kaw  meat  is  seldom  eaten,  and  then  only  in  .some 
particular  dances.  The  nu'at  is  cooked  thoroughly,  and  often  roasted.  They  can  boil 
tish  (juite  as  well  as  the  wiiites.  Some  kinds  of  fiah  tln>y  boil  whole.  Salt  is  u.-:od, 
hut  not  a  large  amount.  Milk  they  ilo  not  relish.  Tliey  never  use  vessels  of  bark 
or  wood  to  boil  in.  Tin,  sheet-iron,  copper,  and  brass  kettles  are  now  in  use.  The 
clay  pots  have  disappeared  altogether.     They  have  no  regular  time  for  meals. 

In  curing,  the  meat  is  cut  into  thin  slices  one  or  two  feet  square,  and  laid  on  a 
tVaine  over  a  gentle  fire  until  dry.  No  salt  is  used.  The  meat  of  all  kinds  of 
nninials  is  dried.  Heaver-tails  are  boiled  before  drying.  Fish  are  cut  thin  and  dried 
over  afire.  In  the  fall  the  C'hippewas  hang  uf)  the  wiiite-fish  and  the  toalabe,  a 
species  of  white-fish,  running  a  sharp  stick  through  the  tail,  and  placing  ten  on  a 
stick.     In  this  way  they  are  kept  fresh  through  the  winter. 

Little  reliance  is  ()ut  on  the  spontaneous  products  of  the  forest.  Koots  are  much 
iiiid  beneficially  usod  for  food.  Plums,  whortleberries,  cranberries,  hay.el-nuts,  tipsi- 
iiiili  (turnips),  and  psinchah  (a  species  of  potato)  are  abundant.  The  latter  is  found 
oil  the  prairies.  Wild  honey,  of  which  the  Indians  are  remarkably  fond,  has  of  late 
years  been  found  in  their  country.  They  put  a  (piantity  of  it,  cou)b,  dirt,  and  all, 
into  a  kettle  and  boil  it,  making  a  fea.st  of  hot  honey,  dirt,  comb,  and  water.  Of 
(dinse  tliey  are  unable  to  keep  such  a  compound  on  '.heir  stomaelis.     Sugar-making 


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77/ A'   INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


B  ill  :;• 


is  curried  on  to  hoiuo  extent  by  tlio  Sioux,  but,  as  the  children  cut  it  almost  hh  fa«t  aa 
they  can  make  it,  they  tlo  not  .sell  mudi.  Wihl  rice  is  gathered  in  the  ahallow  waters 
of  the  rivers  and  lakes  extending  north  of  latitude  40°,  in  such  quantities  as  to  fur- 
nish one  of  the  principal  means  of  Indian  subsistence.  It  is  thus  still  obtuhied  in 
the  i)rincipal  shallow  lakes  and  streams  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Minne- 
sota, and  in  the  valleys  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  and  Missouri.  It  ripens  in  Sej»- 
tembcr.  The  labor  of  gathering  it  falls  to  the  females.  Two  or  three  of  them  in  a 
cauoe  enter  the  licld  of  rice,  and,  bonding  the  stalks  in  handfuls  over  the  sides  of 
the  canoe,  beat  out  the  grain  with  paddles.  The  labor  of  keeping  the  croj)s  from 
l)eing  destroyed  by  birds  devolves  u[)on  the  women  and  children.  So  fierce  some- 
times are  the  attacks  of  the  winged  marauders  that  a  staging  is  erected  in  the  field  on 
which  the  watchers  sit  and  frighten  them  away. 


OJIBWA   MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS. 

The  Ojibwa  believes  that  his  soul  or  shadow,  afler  the  death  of  the  body,  follows 
a  wide  beaten  j^ath  which  leads  towards  the  west,  and  that  it  goes  to  a  country 
iiboumling  in  everything  the  Indian  covets  on  earth,  game  iu  abundance,  dancing, 
antl  rejoicing.  The  soul  enters  a  long  lodge,  in  which  are  congregated  all  his  rela- 
tives for  generations  past  who  welcome  him  with  gladness.  To  reach  this  land  of 
joy  and  bliss  he  crosses  ii  dcej)  and  rapid  water. 

When  the  Ojibwas  first  became  ac<piainted  with  the  white  man  they  practised  the 
arts  of  agriculture,  and  raised  on  their  island  large  (piantities  of  corn  and  jHitatoes. 
Tliey  lived  also  Ity  hunting.  The  mainland  opposite  their  village  abounded  in  moose, 
l>ear,  elk,  and  dei'r ;  and  the  buffalo,  in  those  days,  ranged  in  herds  within  half  a 
•  lay's  journey  from  tlie  lake  shore.  Every  stream  that  flowed  into  the  lake  abounded 
with  beaver,  otter,  and  niuskrat.  The  waters  of  the  lake  also  afforded  them  fish  of 
many  kinds.  Tlie  trout,  siskiwit,  white-tish,  and  sturgeon,  in  spawning-time,  would 
fill  tiieir  rivers.  Making  racks  across  the  stream,  they  would  spear  and  hook  up 
great  (piantities  of  them  a.s  the  fish  came  down  after  spawning.  They  made  nets  of 
(■(•dar  and  hasswood  bark,  and  from  the  sinews  of  animals. 

The  ril)s  of  tiie  moose  and  buffalo  made  materials  for  their  knives;  u  stone  tied 
to  the  end  of  a  stick,  with  which  they  broke  sticks  and  branciics,  aiiswcrid  tl-.r  pp.r- 
pose  of  an  axe;  the  thigh-bone  of  a  muskrat  made  their  awls,  clay  supplied  them 
with  tlic  material  for  kettles,  and  bows  of  wood,  stone-headed  arrows,  and  spear- 
heads of  iioiie,  formed  their  implement.s  of  hunting  and  war. 

Fire  w;us  ol)tained  from  the  friction  of  fivo  sticks.  Their  sluiio  and  u-ggiiif;s 
were  made  of  finely-dressed  skins.  IJlankets  were  made  of  beaver-skins,  eight  of 
wliicii  Slewed  together  formeil  tiie  roln'  of  a  man. 

It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  record  that  copper,  though  abounding  in  their  country 
on  the  lake  shore,  they  never  formed  into  implenn'nt.s  for  use.  They  considered  it 
in  the  light  of  a  sacred  article,  and  ni'ver  used  it  except  to  oriuiment  their  niediciiie- 
bajrs. 


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23  WEST  MAIN  S1KEEY 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14S80 

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MANJVERS  AND   CUSTOMS. 


237 


If  ancient  tools  have  been  found  and  marks  are  discovered  showing  that  copper 
was  worked  on  Lake  Superior  ages  ago,  it  is  not  at  all  probable,  on  this  account,  tliat 
the  race  now  living  there  were  the  workciS  of  it. 

At  this  era  there  was  maintained  at  Mo-ning-wun-a-kan-ing,  the  central  town 
of  the  Ojibwas,  a  continual  fire  as  a  symbol  of  their  nationality.  They  maintained 
also  a  civil  polity,  which,  however,  was  much  mixed  up  with  their  religious  and 
medicinal  beliefs. 

The  totem  of  the  Ah-dw-wa*  ruled  over  them,  and  Muk-wah,  or  the  Bear  Totem, 
led  them  to  var. 

The  rites  of  the  Me-da-we-win,  or  the  worship  of  the  one  Great  Spirit,  and  of 
the  lesser  spirits  that  fill  earth,  sky,  and  water,  were  practised  in  those  days  in  their 
purest  and  most  original  forms. 

They  say  that  a  large  wigwam  was  erected  on  the  island,  which  they  called  Me- 
da-wig-wam,  and  in  which  all  the  holier  rites  of  their  religion  were  practised. 
Though  probably  rude  in  structure,  and  temporary  in  its  materials,  it  was  the  temple 
of  these  primitive  sons  of  the  forest.  And  in  their  religious  phraseology  the  island 
of  their  ancient  temple  is  known  to  this  day  as  Me-da-wig-wam,  or  Meda  lodge. 

In  those  days  their  native  and  primitive  customs  were  in  full  force  and  rigidly 
adhered  to.  Neither  man  nor  woman  ever  passed  the  age  of  puberty  without  severe 
and  protracted  fasts.  Besides  the  one  great  and  overruling  sjiirit,  each  person  sought 
in  dreams  and  fasts  his  particular  guardian  or  dream-spirit.  Many  more  persons  are 
said  to  have  lived  the  full  term  of  life  allotted  to  mankind  than  do  at  the  present 
day.  When  a  person  fell  sick,  a  smallpox  lodge  was  immediately  made  purposely 
for  him,  and  a  medicine-ni'vn  called  to  attend  and  cure.  Only  this  personage  had 
any  intercourse  with  the  sick.  If  a  person  died  of  a  severe  or  violent  disease,  his 
clothing,  the  barks,  and  even  the  poles  tluii  formed  his  lodge,  were  burned  by  fire. 
Thus  did  they  guard  against  iiestilence,  and  sickness  appears  to  have  been  more  rare 
than  at  the  present  day. 

The  old  men  all  agree  in  saying  that  before  the  white  man  came  among  them 
there  were  fewer  murders  and  thefts,  and  less  lying ;  more  fear  and  devotion  to  the 
Great  Spirit,  more  obedience  to  their  parents,  respwt  for  old  age,  and  chastity  in 
man  and  woman,  than  exist  among  them  now.  The  ties  of  blood  were  stronger,  there 
was  more  good-will,  hospitiUity,  and  charity,  and  the  widow  and  the  orphan  were 
never  allowed  to  live  in  poverty  and  want. 

'  Ah-dw-wii,  Mo-awli-wauk,  uad  Mong  are  nearly  syaonymous,  and  mean  the  Loon,  which  in  the  totcui 
of  the  royal  Ojibwa  family. 


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CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  TRIBES.— ETHNOLOGICAL  DISTRIBUTION— ORGANIZATION— GOVERNMENT. 

Algonkini. — Massachuautts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island  Indians — Abcnakia — Penobscota — Pennacooks 
— Allegaiis  —  Delawarc8 —  Pottawatomica  —  Cliippewas — Pillagers — Shawnces  —  Cheyennes  —  Arapa- 
hoes — Miamis — Mcnomonics — Kickapoos — Michigamics — Blackfeet — Mascoutins — Brothertons — Otta- 
was — Sacs  and  Foxes — Pawnees,  Peorias,  Quappaws,  etc. 

Appalachians. — Cherokees — Creeks — Choctaws — Chickasaws — Seiuinoles — Congarces — Natchez. 

Pacific  Slope. — California,  Oregon,  and  Washington  tribes. 

Dalcota  or  Sioux. — Dakotas — Assiniboincs — Mandans — Minnctarees — Arikarecs — Crows— 'Winnebagoes — 
lowos — Omahas — Osages — Poncas. 

Iroquoi* Onondiigas — Oneidas — New  York  Indians — Wyandot  Hurons — Catawbas — Eries. 

Alhabasca$. — Alaskas — Apaches — Navajoes. 

Shoshonet. — Conianches — Utes — Bannocks — Wichitas — Kiowas — Pueblos — Zuiii — Moquis — Snakes. 

Yumas. — Pimos — Papagos — Maricopas. 

ETHNOGRAPHICAL  POSITION  OF  THE   PRINCIPAL  STOCKS — GEOGRAPHICAL  AREA 

OCCUPIED. 

The  aborigines,  on  the  planting  of  the  colonies,  rather  roved  over  than  occupied 
the  continent.  To  hunt  the  deer  and  go  to  war  were  their  prime  employments. 
Powhatan  called  himself  a  king  in  Virginia,  and  Massasoit  so  styled  himself  in  Mas- 
sachusetts. But  the  governing  power  of  thoir  kingdoms  was  a  rope  of  sand,  and  the 
Indian  tribes  were  so  many  camjjs  of  anarchy.  This  was  a  necessary  result  of  the 
hunter  state,  which  is  bound  together  by  slight  cords,  and  always  requires  large  dis- 
tricts of  forest  to  lie  in  the  wilderness  condition  that  wild  animals  may  multiply. 

Anotlier  striking  trait  in  the  Indians  wjis  that  they  existed  in  an  infinite  variety 
of  tribes  and  septs  having  affinities  of  language  and  blood,  yet  each  having  its 
peculiar  beliefs,  customs,  and  manners.  All  the  knowledge  we  can  truly  be  said  to 
possess  of  the  pioneer  race  of  this  continent  relates  to  its  modern  history,  and  it  is 
desirable  that  we  should  gather  this  in  relation  to  every  prominent  tribe  in  existence 
while  we  yet  have  the  means  to  do  so.  Of  the  remoter  forest  bands  and  roving 
tribes  who  have  done  nothing  but  kill  animals  and  men,  little  need  be  said,  for  they 
excite  little  interest.  But  the  history  of  those  tribes  that  have  produced  exalted 
leaders,  eloquent  orators  and  councillors,  or  captains  who  have  exhibited  unusual 
Ciipacity  or  wisdom — and  there  have  been  many  such — will  always  be  of  permanent 
interest  and  value. 

Every  great  valley,  lake,  or  mountain-range  had  its  separate  tribe,  although,  when 
closely  examined,  the  languages  proved  them  to  be  only  speaking  dialects  of  a  few 
parent  stocks.  While  many  of  the  tribes  that  differed  in  speech  are  evidently  of  one 
238 


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THE  TRIBES. 


239 


racial  stock,  others,  belonging  to  the  same  linguistic  connection,  present  the  widest 
physical  divergences.  Language  forms  the  most  convenient  basis  for  classifying  the 
tribes,  but  the  uncertainty  in  this  respect  makes  the  true  relation  of  the  Cheyennes, 
Arapahoes,  and  Blackfeet  doubtful,  some  classing  them  as  Dakotas,  others  as  Algon- 
kins.  In  all  the  range  of  the  North  Atlantic  there  were  not  over  three  or  four 
generic  stocks,  and  apparently  not  more  than  seven  in  the  entire  area  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River.  These  groups,  in  the  order  of  discovery  from  south  to  north  and 
from  east  to  west,  were  the  Appalachian,  Achalaque,  Chicorean,  Algonkin,  Iroquois, 
Dakota,  Shoshone,  and  Athabascan. 

The  era  assumed  for  this  survey  is  1512.  De  Leon  had  landed  in  Florida. 
Cabot  and  Cortereal  had  seen  the  Indians  of  the  North  Atlantic  shores  ten  or  fifteen 
years  earlier.  Casting  the  eye  over  the  map  of  North  America,  from  the  influx  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  along  the  indentations  of  the  coast,  successively  settled  by  the 
British  colonies,  reaching  to  the  latitude  of  Pamlico  Sound,  in  North  Carolina,  we 
perceive  that  the  country  was  occupied  by  the  numerous  afl&liated  tribes  of  the 
Algonkin  stock.  A  family  of  littoral  tribes  extended  along  the  coasts  of  the  Caro- 
linas,  of  whom  not  a  soul  is  known  to  be  living.  In  the  latitude  of  St.  Helena, 
Broad  River,  and  the  Combahee,  the  Spanish  called  them  Chicoreans,  but  they  are 
known  to  English  history  as  Yamassees. 

Tradition  assigns  the  next  place  to  the  Uchees,  but  they  had  been  at  the  earliest 
dates  subdued  by  the  Muskokis  or  Creeks,  and  the  remainder,  who  had  escaped  the 
calamities  of  war,  had  been  adojited  into  the  Creek  confederacy,  a  prominent  member 
of  the  Appalachian  group. 


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I. — APPALACHIANS,  OR  CHAHTA-MUSKOKI. 

The  several  groups  are  placed  upon  the  accompanying  map  in  the  order  of  their 
discovery.  The  Spanish,  who  discovered  the  peninsula  of  Florida,  were  not  backward 
in  their  attempts  to  explore  it.  It  would  not  appear  tliat  the  Gulf  of  Florida  is  of 
a  breadth  and  character  to  have  prevented  the  natives  from  psissing  to  Cuba,  either 
by  a  bold  traverse  in  the  halcyon  months,  or  by  the  way  of  the  Bahama  Islands ; 
and  such  an  origin  has  been  conjectured  by  some  early  voyagers  for  the  Caribbean 
tribes,  but  without  physiological  proofs.  On  the  contrary,  the  Spaniards  of  Cuba, 
when  they  landed  in  Florida,  found  their  island  interpreters  entirely  at  fault ;  they 
could  not  understand  a  word  of  the  language;  and  Panfilo  de  Narvaez,  who 
landed  in  1527  at  what  is  now  called  Tampa  Bay,  was  obliged  to  employ  the 
vague  language  of  signs.  This  want  of  an  interpreter  was,  it  is  believed,  at  the 
bottom  of  all  his  misfortunes.  He  perpetually  misunderstood  the  Indians,  and  they 
him. 

These  several  landings  were  in  the  wide-spreading  circle  of  what  we  denominate 
the  Appalachian  group,  a  powerful  confederacy  in  the  southeastern  corner  of  the 
United  States,  of  which  the  Creek  or  Muskoki,  the  Choctaw,  and  the  Chickasaw, 
formed  the  tliree  leading  tribes.     The  otliers  were  the  Seminoles,  Mobiles,  Colusas 


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240 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


or  Coosadjis,  Alibainous,  Uchees,  Appaluches,  and  Timucuas.  The  language  of  the 
latter  tribe,  now  extinct,  is  specially  sympathetic,  and  is  regarded  by  Gatschet  as  a 
stock  language.  The  Cherokees  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  this 
family.  While  the  main  tribes  were  undoubtedly  homogeneous,  there  apiMjars  evi- 
dence, in  the  name  of  the  friendly  and  placid  chief  "Mocoso"  (Little  Bear),  of  the 
existence  of  the  Shawnee  dialect  of  the  Algonkin  element  of  language,  at  this  time, 
in  the  Floridian  peninsula ;  and  their  present  tribal  name  (Southerners)  and  recorded 
traditions  confirm  this. 

De  Soto  was  enabled,  with  the  aid  of  the  interpretership  of  Juan  Ortiz,  a  soldier 
left  by  Narvaez,  who  had  learned  the  Appalache  language,  to  carry  on  his  communi- 
cations with  the  several  tribes  until  he  reached  and  crossed  the  Mississippi.  This 
appears  evident,  for  it  is  said  that,  although  the  languiiges  differed,  the  difference 
was  not  radical,  so  that  he  could  communicate  with  them.  The  Appalaches  evidently 
spoke  the  Muskoki,  but  it  is  clear  that,  in  the  wild  search  after  gold-mines,  De  Soto 
crossed  his  own  track.  After  his  return  from  Cofachique,  a  Creek  name,  he  crossed 
a  part  of  the  Cherokee  country,  again  entered  the  territory  of  the  Creeks,  and  after- 
wards that  of  the  Choctaws  (culled  Mavilians  or  Mobilians),  and,  at  his  highef't  i)oint 
on  the  Mississippi,  that  of  the  Chickasaws. 

The  names  Alibamo,  Cosa,  Talise,  Chicaza,  and  Tasealuza,  are  scarcely  distin- 
guishable, in  their  popular  jironuncintion,  from  the  modern  words  Alabama,  Coosa, 
Tallassee,  Chicka-saw,  and  Tuscaloosji;  the  last  of  these  is  pure  Choctaw,  meaning 
Black  Warrior. 

Geographical  names  still  existing  denote  that  the  Muskokis  extended  at  the  time 
of  the  colonization  from  the  Coosawhatchce,  in  South  Carolina,  through  Georgia  to 
the  Appalachicola,  embracing  both  its  branches,  to  the  Tallapoosa  and  the  Alabama. 
Their  territory  now  constitutes  the  States  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and 
Florida,  with  a  portion  of  Louisiana  east  of  the  Mississip[)i.  Their  most  ancient 
seat  of  power  was  on  the  Altamaha,  whence,  about  the  settlement  of  South  Carolina, 
it  was  removed  to  Wetumpka.  The  Seminole  tribe  of  this  peoj)le  extended  down  to 
the  peninsula  of  Florida.  The  Muskokis  were  conquerors  coming  from  the  west,  and 
they  had,  beyond  doubt,  subdued  or  driven  out  prior  occupants. 

The  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  Mobile  Bay,  the  lower  parts  of  the  Alabama, 
the  Tombigbee,  and  the  Pascagoula,  to  the  Mississippi,  were  occupied  by  the  Choctaws. 
The  Natchez,  a  people  of  apparently  Toltec  origin,  occupied  a  position  along  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  from  a  point  nearly  opposite  the  Red  River  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Yazoo.  North  of  the  territory  of  the  Natchez  began  the  l)()uiidary  (»f  the 
Chickasaws,  reaching  ea.st  to  the  head  of  the  Tombigbee,  and  extending  up  the  left 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  and  into  the  Ohio,  through  the  present  States  of  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky. 

II. — ACIIALAQUKS. 

In  the  march  of  T>e  Soto  westward  (l/>4())  from  Cutifachiqui,  which  is  thought 
by  Mr.  Pickett  to  have  been  on  the;  Savannah  River,  he  passed  through  the  southern 


THE   TRIBES. 


241 


portion  of  the  territory  of  the  Achalaques, — the  Clierokccs  of  our  day, — a  region 
which  la  branded  by  him  as  "  barren."  He  was  now  among  the  foot-hills  of  the 
A]>palachian  range.  The  name  Achalaque  represents,  indeed,  the  sounds  of  the 
term  for  this  group  more  fully  than  does  the  English  term  Cherokee.  It  is  known 
that  the  sound  of  r  is  wanting  in  this  language.  David  Brown,  the  brother  of 
Catherine,  a  native  Cherokee,  calls  it  "the  sweet  language  of  Tsallake."  The 
boundary  of  the  territory  possessed  by  this  tribe  appears  to  have  been  loss  subject  to 
variation  than  that  of  any  other  tribe  with  whom  we  have  been  in  intorcourHC,  not 
excepting  the  Iroquois,  whose  domains  grew,  however,  by  accessions  from  conquest. 
The  Cherokees  occupied  the  termination  of  the  Appalachian,  neither  reaching  to  the 
Atlantic,  the  Gulf,  nor  the  Mississippi  in  Northern  Alabama.  In  this  secluded  posi- 
tion, abounding  in  pure  streams  of  water  and  fertile  valleys,  they  had  lived  from 
prehistoric  times.  The  Cumberland  River  anciently  bore  their  name,  and  appears 
to  have  been  their  outlet  to  the  Ohio  Valley.  By  some  ethnologists  the  Cherokees, 
the  Natchez,  and  the  Catawbas  are  classed  with  the  Appalachian  family. 


!       I 


thought 
I southern 


III. — CUICOUEAN  GROUP. 

The  genera  of  tribes  to  whom  we  apply  this  name  claim  the  States  of  South  and 
North  Carolina  as  the  peculiar  theatre  of  their  occupancy  at  the  earliest  era.  We 
fii-st  hear  of  them  about  1510.  The  credulous  governor  of  Porto  Rico,  Ponce  de 
Leon,  rendered  himself  memorable  by  his  early  discovery  of,  and  adventures  in, 
Florida,  which  he  named ;  but  he  was  morUdly  wounded  in  a  conflict  with  the 
natives.  An  adventurer  by  the  name  of  Diego  Meruelo,  being  afterwards  driven  on 
the  coiist,  received  a  small  quantity  of  the  precious  metals.  This  inflamed  the  golden 
hopes  of  a  company  engaged  in  mining  at  San  Domingo,  who  fitted  out  three  ships 
tor  a  voyage  thither.  The  leader  was  Lucas  Vusquez  de  Ayllon,  whose  object  was 
the  kidnapping  of  Indians  to  work  in  the  mines.  With  this  nefarious  purpose  he 
Sillied  eastwardly  along  the  coasts  of  what  is  now  called  South  Carolina.  At  Com- 
hahee  River  he  traded  with  the  Indians  (Yamassees),  and,  after  completing  his 
traflic,  invited  them  on  board  of  his  vessels ;  and  when  a  sufficient  number  had  gone 
into  the  holds  of  his  ships,  he  closed  the  hatches  and  sailed  back  to  San  Domingo. 

The  Yamassees  spread  along  the  sea-cotu^t  of  South  Carolina.  The  midland  and 
interior  portions  were  covered  by  the  Catawbas  and  Cheraws,  artful  and  valiant  races, 
who  extended  into  North  Carolina,  and  who  have  signalized  their  history  by  their 
friendship  for  the  whites.  The  Catuwbas  were  not  an  indigenous  jwople  in  South 
Carolina,  having  been  driven  from  the  north  by  the  Iroquois,  who  continued  to  be 
tlioir  deadly  enemies.  The  mountain-region  and  uplands  were  debatable  ground, 
which  was  made  a  hostile  arena  by  the  contending  Cherokees  and  Iroquois,  The 
latter,  in  the  Tuscaroru  branch,  spread  across  North  Carolina,  and  preserved  a  point 
(if  approach  for  their  kindred  in  Western  New  York  and  the  Lakes.  They  main- 
tained a  war  of  extraordinary  violence  against  the  Cherokees  and  Catawbas,  which  was 
conducted  generally  by  small  parties.     There  is  rojuson  to  suppose  that  the  Clierokees 

31 


\   .1 ' 


242 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


were  tlic  "  Tallagcwy"  of  the  Lenapos,  who  were  defeated  in  the  north,  and  driven 
down  the  Ohio  by  that  ancient  tribe  in  alliance  with  the  IroquoiH,  TIuh  group 
abrtorbs  the  sniall  sea-coiwt  triben  of  North  Carolina.  It  extends  into  Southern 
Virginia,  south  of  Albemarle  Sound. 

IV. — ALOONKINS.  * 

This  is  the  most  important  group,  historically  and  nurao'-'cally,  in  the  United 
States.  Nearly  all  of  the  Atlantic  tr'bes  have  either  disapp'-ared,  emigrated  west, 
or  been  placed  u])on  reservations.  We  meet  with  some  traces  of  this  language  in 
ancient  Florida.  It  first  assumes  importance  in  the  sub-genus  of  the  Powhatanese 
circle  in  Virginia.  It  is  afterwards  found  in  the  Nanticokes,  ass'imes  a  very  decided 
type  in  the  Lenni  Lenajies,  or  Delawares,  and  is  afterwards  traced,  in  various 
dialects,  in  the  valleys  of  the  Hudson  and  Connecticut,  and  throughout  the  whole 
geographical  area  of  New  England,  New  Brunswick,  and  Nova  Scotia. 

The  term  appears  to  have  Iwen  first  employed  as  a  generic  word  by  the  French 
for  the  old  Nipercineans,  Attawiis,  Montagnies,  and  their  congeners  in  the  valley  of 
the  St.  Lawrence.  It  is  applied  to  the  Saulteurs  of  St.  Mary,  the  Maskigoes  of 
Canada,  and,  lus  shown  by  a  recent  vocabulary,  the  Blackfeet  of  the  Upper  Missouri, 
the  Siuskatchewan,  the  Pillagers  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  the  Cheyennes  and 
Arapahoes  of  the  Platte,  Missouri,  and  Upper  Arkansas,  and  the  Crees  or  Kenis- 
tenos  of  Hudson  Bay.  Returning  from  these  remote  points,  where  this  broad 
migratory  column  was  met  by  the  Athabascan  group,  the  term  includes  the  Miamis, 
Weius,  Piankeshaws,  Shawneos,  Pottawatomies,  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Kickapoos,  and 
Illinois,  and  their  varieties,  the  Kaskaskias,  etc.,  to  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi.  At  the  point  where  the  Jiiris<liction  of  the  Chickasaws  ceased,  a  pro- 
fessedly neutral  war-ground  existed,  which  has  received  the  name  of  Kentucky,  and 
which  was  in  part  occupied  at  a  subsefjuent  time  by  the  Shawnees,  an  Algonkin 
tribe.  Such  a  diftiision  of  a  grcmp  of  tribes  has  no  parallel  in  North  America,  and 
indicates  an  original  energy  of  character  which  is  noteworthy.  There  were  not  less 
than  twenty  degrees  of  latitude  along  the  North  Atlantic  occupied  by  the  Algoukiiis 
in  their  divisions,  covering  the  entire  area  between  the  Mississipj)i  River  and  the 
ocean. 

V. — IROQUOIS. 

Within  this  widely-spread  group  the  Five  and  afterwards  Six  Nations  (called 
Iroquois)  planted  themselves  in  Western  New  York,  and  on  the  shores  of  Lakes 
Ontario  and  Erie,  at  a  point  where  they  would  appear  to  have  been  in  danger  of 
being  crushed  by  the  surrounding  nations ;  but  they  had  the  wisdom  to  see  that  the 
small  Indian  tribes  destroyed  themselves  by  discord,  and  they  organized  themselves 
into  a  confederacy,  in  which  the  priiKuples  of  military  glory  and  union  were  carried 
to  a  remarkable  extent.  They  coiKpU'red,  and  then  made  allies  of,  the  Mohican  and 
Hudson  River  tribes,  reaching  to  Long  Island.     'I'hey  subdued  in  a  similar  way  the 


THE   TRIBES. 


243 


Monseos,  and  the  Lenapcs  themselves,  who  had  long  occupied  a  central  prominence  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  also  extended  their  conqucfits  east  and  west  and  nortli  and  south. 
They  drove  away  the  Allegewy,  in  alliance  with  the  Delawares,  before  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  and  kept  open  a  road  of  conquest,  in  the  direction  of  the  Alle- 
ghany range,  to  South  Carolina.  The  Wyandots  are  of  this  stock.  It  is  clear  from 
IjC  Jeune  that  this  tribe  was  located  on  the  island  of  Montreal  when  the  French  first 
settled  in  Canada,  hut,  owing  to  their  alliance  with  the  French  and  the  Algonkins, 
they  were  expelled  from  the  St.  Lawrence  valley  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  Ethnologically  the  Iroquois  are  of  Algonkin  stock.  This  family  has  three 
main  divisions :  Wyandots  or  Hurons,  of  Canada ;  Iroquois  or  Six  Nations,  of  New 
York ;  and  Monocans  or  Monahoacs,  of  Virginia,  including  Nottaways,  Meherrins, 
and  others,  who  subsequently  joined  the  Iroquois  confederacy. 

The  Iroquois  were  the  Goths  of  North  America.  Where  the  point  of  their 
original  growth  to  nationality  was  located,  or  how  the  Indian  mind  developed  that 
])ower  of  confederation  and  combination,  both  civil  and  military,  which  made  them 
the  terror  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  North  America,  it  is  difficult  to  determine.  Their 
own  traditions  deduce  their  origin  from  the  waters  of  the  great  Kanawaga,  or  St. 
Lawrence.  But  language  discloses  the  fact  that  at  the  earliest  dates  tribes  of  this 
stock  occupied  Upper  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  under  the  names  of  Mohicans 
and  Tuscaroras.  However  they  may  have  wandered,  their  seats  of  power,  at  the 
opening  of  the  sixteenth  century,  were  in  Western  New  York.  They  were  not  lit- 
toral tribes,  but  interior  ones,  although  they  had  at  prehistoric  dates  carried  their 
conquests  down  the  Hudson,  the  Delaware,  the  Susquehanna,  and  the  Alleghany. 

The  Iroquois,  occupyirtg  this  central  position  on  a  broad  summit  of  fertile  table- 
land, favorable  for  raising  maize  and  abounding  in  game,  had  a  position  of  unrivalled 
advantages.  The  leading  rivers  towards  the  north,  the  east,  the  west,  and  the  south 
originated  on  this  summit,  which  gave  them  the  power  of  descending  rapidly  into 
the  enemy's  country,  and,  by  abandoning  their  water  craft  or  leaving  it  at  a  fixed 
])oint,  returning  scathless  by  land.  Thus  they  had  conquered  the  Mohicans,  the 
Delawares,  the  Susquehannocks,  and  others,  spreading  the  terror  of  their  arms 
from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Mississippi. 


ii 


H 


! 


'i., 


I  .j- 


VI. — DAKOTAS. 

West  of  the  Mississippi  there  were  two  generic  stocks  of  great  importance.  These 
were  the  Dakotas  or  Sioux,  and  the  Shoshones.  The  geographical  limits  of  these 
trilMJs  were  immense,  and  they  were  divided  into  languages  and  dialects  and  clanships 
even  more  numerous  than  the  Algonkins,  Iroquois,  and  Appalachians. 

First  in  influence  of  these  two  stocks,  and  in  savage  energies,  manners,  and 
customs,  are  the  Dakotas  or  Sioux.  Like  the  Algonkins,  the  Iroquois,  and  the 
Appalachians,  who  had  crossed  the  Mississippi  at  different  points  at  early  epochs, 
tlioy  appear  to  have  come  from  the  south  and  southwest.  At  the  era  denoted  for 
these  researches  they  spread  from  the  Red  River  and  the  Arkansas  up  the  valley  of 


►  •" 


U 


illll 


244 


Tilt:  INDIAN   TlilBES   OF   TJIK   UNITED  STATES. 


the  Mississippi,  on  its  western  borders,  to  its  sources,  luiving  iit  early  (lutes  extended 
etistwurd  to  the  head  oC  the  great  luke-ehaiii  Tiiey  einbraeed  the  Arkansas,  Quajtpas, 
Cadrons,  Wiehitaa,  Osages,  Kansius,  Pawnees,  lowas,  Ottoes,  Poncas,  Omahaws,  Mis- 
Hourians,  Arickarecs,  Minnctarecs,  Tetons,  Yanktons,  and  other  known  Bioux  tribes ; 
also  the  Upsarokas  or  Crows,  and  the  Mundans.  The  Assiniboins,  a  Bioux  tribe 
with  an  Algonkin  name,  were  the  most  northerly  tribal  element  of  this  ethnographic 
horde.  One  of  their  tribes,  the  Isanti,  were  found  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior  in 
Hennepin's  day ;  another,  the  Winnelmgoes  ("  Puans"  of  the  Canadians),  also  a 
Dakota  tribe  with  an  Algonkin  cognomen,  were  seated  at  Green  Bay  at  La  Balle's 
lirst  visit,  and  have  but  recently  retraced  their  steps,  under  the  removal  movement, 
to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi,  The  language  of  the  Ilidatsus  identifies  them  also  with 
the  Dakotas.  De  Boto,  when  he  crossed  the  Mississippi,  in  1541,  in  latitude  about 
32°,  landed  among  a  class  of  tribes,  one  of  whom,  the  Quappas  (Ciuipana),  is  clearly 
named.  De  Vaca.  ten  years  earlier,  mentions  the  Aoua«  (lowjis).  The  term  Dakota 
iu  here  used  in  a  generic  sense  for  a  stock  of  languagis,  and  not  as  designating  the 
Sioux  only,  as  it  embraces  a  very  large  number  of  tribes  west  of  the  Mississippi.  It 
is  not  contended  that  these  tribes  can  converse  understandingly  together,  but  that 
they  are  connected  by  one  ethnological  (thain,  which  is  distinctly  traced  so  far  as  it 
has  been  compared  by  vocabularies. 

The  course  of  the  tide  of  migration  of  the  Dakotas  appeurs  to  have  been  north, 
until  the  advanced  tribes  reached  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  western 
shores  of  Lake  Superior.  At  the  time  the  French  first  entered  the  country  the  Win- 
iiebagoes  had  reached  Green  Bay,  and  the  Sioux  of  Minnesota  were  already  on  their 
retrograde  march.  Traces  of  their  ancient  villages  anif  hieroglyphics  have  been 
noticed  at  Leech  Lake,  Mille  Lacs,  and  other  interior  positions  intermediate  between 
Lake  Superior  and  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  They  had  begun  to  retreat 
before  the  northwestern  rush  of  the  Algonkins,  who  ai)pear  to  hav(  been  most  expert 
woodsmen  from  the  remotest  dates.  Mr.  Horatio  Hale'  believes  that  formerly  "the 
whole  of  what  is  now  the  central  portion  of  the  United  States,  from  the  Mississippi 
nearly  to  the  Atlantic,  was  occupied  by  Dakota  tribes,  who  have  been  cut  up  and 
gradually  exterminated  by  the  intrusive  and  more  energetic  Algonkins  and  Iroquois." 

VII. — SHOSnONES. 

The  Shoshoncs,  or  Snake  Indians,  have  from  the  remotest  times  occupied  the 
I)lateaus  and  summits  and  valleys  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region.  Lewis  and  Clarke 
found  them  to  possess  its  summits  in  latitude  48°  in  1805.  Fremont  found  them 
spread  over  the  latitude  of  42°  in  1840.  Their  traditions  rei)resent  them  to  have 
lived  in  the  valley  of  the  Saskatchewan,  from  which  they  were  driven  by  the  Black- 
feet.  Under  the  name  of  Bannocks  and  Root-Diggers  they  have  excited  compassion, 
being  often  reduced  to  live  on  roots  and  larvaj.     Under  the  name  of  Niunas,  or 


'  Proccodingg  of  the  American  Philosophioul  Society  for  1871,  p.  15. 


THE   TlilUKS. 


246 


Comanche«,  they  cover  Texas.  The  Utuha  iirc  HnguiHtically  Shoshoncfl.  Under 
tluH  name  they  were  the  Hcourge  of  New  Mexico,  and  conHtituted  the  unreliable  and 
porfldiouH  tribes  of  the  Territory  of  Utah.  California  and  Oregon  have  numerous 
bands  and  clans  of  the  Bannocks. 

This  group  extended  over  part«  of  Idaho,  Utah,  Wyoming,  Oregon,  Nevada, 
Montana,  Arizona,  Texas,  California,  and  New  Mexico.  It  embraced  the  Winniasht, 
or  Western  Shoshones,  of  Oregon  and  Idaho ;  the  Bannocks,  Utahs  or  Utes,  Co- 
manches  or  Yetans,  and  Moijui,  of  New  Mexico ;  all  of  the  seven  Pueblos  except 
the  Oreibe,  in  which  the  Tegua  dialect  is  Hpoken,  and  the  Digueno  of  Southwest- 
ern California.  The  Pawnees  are  by  some  regarded  as  of  the  Shoshone  family, 
although  Mr.  Lewis  II.  ^^'lrgan  considers  them  distinct  linguistically  from  all  other 
tribes.  Besides  the  Pawnees  proper,  who  are  now  in  the  Indian  Territory,  there 
are  the  Arickarees  and  the  Wichitas,  including  such  small  tribes  in  Texas  and 
Louiuiuuu  as  the  Wochoes  and  the  Kichuis. 


;  'Mi 


VIII. — ATHABA8CAS. 

This  group  occupies  the  greater  part  of  Alaska  and  t':^  Cunadian  dominion, 
includiuf,  f'  t'  Hoopas  and  Unipquos  of  Oregon  and  the  roving  Apaches  and  Nava- 
joes  of  New  Mexico,  and  presenta  the  remarkable  spcciaelt;  of  a  stock  dividing  in 
HOii.e  central  area,  one  branch  moving  northward  and  becoming  established  in  a 
nearly  arctic  climate,  the  other  moving  southward  into  a  semi-tropical  region.  The 
evidence  of  the  relationship  of  these  widely-separated  tribes  is  derived  I'roiii  a  com- 
parison of  vocables  by  the  late  Prof.  W.  W.  Turner,  which  clearly  established  the 
fact. 

Recent  ethnologists  rank  the  Aclmlaques  and  Chicoras  with  the  Appalachians, 
and  add  to  the  above  groups  the  Yumas  of  Southern  Arizona  and  Lower  California, 
including  the  Yampai,  Tonto- Apaches,  Maricopas,  Mojaves,  etc. ;  the  New  Mexican 
Pueblo  or  Village  Indians,  inhabiting  twenty-six  towns,  with  similar  liabits,  insti- 
tutions, and  social  life,  but  presenting  the  remarkable  phenomenon  of  a  strictly 
ethnological  group  speaking  six  distinct  languages ;  the  Columbian,  extending  iiito 
Washington  Territory  and  Oregon,  and  including  the  Flathead  or  Selish,  the  Nis- 
(jualli  of  Puget  Sound,  the  Sahaptins  or  Nez  Perces,  the  Yakimas,  Walla-Walla,  etc. ; 
and  the  Californian,  mainly  a  geographical  group,  containing  three  large  divisions, 
the  Klamath,  Ponco,  and  llunsien,  others  belonging  to  the  Shoshones,  Yumas,  and 
Atluibiiscas.  The  former  are  in  the  Klamath  River  basin ;  south  of  them  are  the 
Poncius,  mainly  in  the  Potter  Valley ;  and  still  farther  south  are  the  Runsiens  of 
Monterey  Bay.  The  Yuma  language  is  siwken  on  the  Colorado  River  above  and 
below  its  junction  with  the  Gila, 

Besides  the  prominent  stocks,  there  existed,  interlaced,  iis  it  were,  at  wide  points, 
the  small  tribes  of  Natchez,  Uchees,  and  the  ancient  Corees  and  Chicoras  of  Georgia 
and  the  Carolinos.  The  Erics  and  Anda-stcs,  the  Mundwa,  the  AttuckajMis,  the 
Mascotins,  and  the  AUegans,  occupied  minor  positions. 


( ■  ■■■ 


l:'^-j. 


^i:  <\\ 


■1*1 


246  TUE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


ORGANIZATION   AND  GOVERNMENT. 

The  term  "tribe"  denotes  among  the  American  aborigines  a  common  descent. 
The  tribe  is  the  most  primitive  of  social  organizations,  being  found  in  the  earliest 
stages  of  the  history  of  all  nations,  and  containing  the  germs  of  their  civil  govern- 
ment. What  constituted  the  tribe  was  the  possession  of  a  tribal  territory  and  a  tribal 
name,  an  independent  dialect,  the  right  of  investing  chiefs  chosen  by  it,  government 
through  a  council  of  chiefs,  and  a  religious  faith  and  worship.  The  tribe  always 
took  its  name  from  some  animal  or  inanimate  object,  and  never  from  a  person.  Its 
constant  tendency  to  disintegration  was  a  striking  feature,  and  a  great  hindrance  to 
its  progress.  New  tribes  were  constantly  springing  up,  having  a  boundless  field  for 
expansion,  and  stimulated  by  the  hope  of  superior  advantages  in  acquiring  the  means 
of  subsistence.     Some  of  the  tribal  rights  and  obligations  were  as  follows : 

The  Right  of  Electing  Sachems  and  Chiefs. — There  were  two  classes  of  chiefs, — 
the  sachems,  who  were  hereditary,  and  the  common  chiefs,  who  were  not.  The  office 
of  sachem  was  made  perpetual,  vacancies  being  filled  whenever  they  occurred,  while 
the  office  of  chief,  bestowed  as  a  reward  of  merit,  died  with  its  possessor.  The 
sachem  could  not  go  to  war  as  such,  that  being  the  duty  of  the  individuals  chosen  to 
office  for  personal  bravery,  wisdom,  or  eloqyence.  Any  chief  could  be  deposed  by 
a  council  of  the  tribe  for  improper  conduct  or  on  account  of  loss  of  confidence. 

'llie  Obligation  not  to  Marry  in  the  Tribe. — The  motive  for  this,  says  Mr.  Lewis 
II.  JNIorgan,  was  to  jirovide  a  permanent  shield  against  promiscuity,  and  also  against 
the  intermarriage  of  brothoi-s  and  sisters.  Brother  and  sister  would  of  course  be  of 
the  same  tril)e,  and,  since  the  paternity  of  the  children  was  unknown,  descent  was 
necessarily  reckoned  in  the  female  line.  This  was  subsequently  changed  among  the 
Omahaws  and  the  Ojibways  to  the  male  line. 

Obligations  arising  from  Kinship. — These  have  been  weakened  by  civilized 
society,  in  which  protection  is  accorded  by  the  state,  but  in  primitive  society  the 
individual  depended  wholly  for  security  upon  his  tribe  and  kin.  The  obligation  to 
avenge  a  murder  wa.s  generally  recognized.  If  the  injury  could  not  be  adjusted  by 
a  composition,  and  the  relations  of  the  slain  person  we;e  implacable,  one  or  more 
avengers  were  appointed  by  the  tribe,  whose  duty  it  became  to  kill  the  criminal 
wherover  found.     Blood  for  blood  satisfied  the  demands  of  justice. 

Council  of  the  Tribes. — This,  made  up  of  the  older  men,  was  a  democratic 
assembly,  as  every  member  had  a  voice.  It  elected  and  deposed  chiefs,  avenged  or 
condoned  the  crime  of  murder,  elected  "  keepers  of  the  faith,"  performed  the  cere- 
mony of  adoption,  and  distributed  the  projterty  of  a  deceased  member.  There  was 
a  still  higher  council  of  the  tribe,  and,  higher  yet,  that  of  a  confederacy,  composed 
exclusively  of  chiefs.' 

The  Right  of  Adoption. — Tiiis  was  one  of  the  distinctive  attributes  of  the  tril)e. 


'  Art.  "Tribe,"  Johnson's  Cyclopaedia,  App.,  p.  1705. 


THE  TRIBES. 

Captives  taken  in  war  were  eitlier  put  to  death  or  adopted,  the  hitter  destiny  being 
generally  accorded  to  the  women  and  children.  A  captive  adopted  in  the  relation 
of  a  son  or  a  daughter,  or  in  that  of  a  brother  or  a  sister,  was  ever  afterwards  treated 
in  all  respects  as  though  born  in  that  relation.  The  ceremony  of  adoption,  among 
the  Iroquois,  was  performed  at  a  public  council  with  the  solemnity  of  p.  religious 
rite.  A  captive  who  succeeded  in  running  the  gauntlet  was  entitled  to  adoption 
for  his  hardihood  and  endurance.  When  adopted,  captives  usually  took  the  places 
in  the  family  of  those  lost  in  battle,  and  served  to  recruit  the  strength  of  the 
tribe. 

Inheritance  of  Properly. — In  savage  tribes  little  property  existed.  Most  of  the 
deceased  owner's  personal  valuables  were  buried  with  him.  Universal  custom  re- 
tained the  property  in  the  tribe,  and  it  was  distributed  among  the  nearest  of  kin. 
Among  the  Iroquois  this  distribution  was  generally  made,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
chief,  to  the  near  relatives;  though  the  tribe,  if  it  chose,  could  make  an  arbitrary 
distribution  without  regard  to  kindred.  Land  was  universally  held  in  common  by 
the  tribes,  but  a  possessory  right  was  acquired  to  so  much  as  was  brought  under 
cultivation,  which  passed  by  inheritance  the  same  as  personal  effects. 

The  Phratry. — The  jihratry,  or  brotherhood,  grew  naturally  out  of  the  family 
organization,  it  being  a  union  or  association  of  two  or  more  families  of  the  same  tribe 
for  common  objects.  Tbose  thus  united  were  usually  such  as  had  descended  from 
the  same  original  family.  It  existed  in  a  large  number  of  tribes,  and  possessed  no 
original  governmental  funetionn,  but  was  a  useful  feature  in  the  social  system.  The 
eight  Seneca  families  were  divided  into  two  phratries,  as  follows:  First  Phratry:  1, 
Bear;  2,  Wolf ;  3,  Beaver;  4,  Turtle.  Sraond  Phratry:  5,  Deer;  6,  Snipe;  7, 
Heron ;  8,  Hawk. 

Those  two  were  equal  in  functions.  They  concerned  themselves  with  public 
games,  in  which  the  people  divided  by  phratries,  with  cases  of  murder,  with  the 
funerals  of  distinguished  men,  and  with  the  confirmation  of  the  nomination  of  sachems 
and  chiefs  made  by  the  tribe.  The  Senecius,  Cayugas,  and  Onondagas  were  conjposed 
of  eight  families,  seven  of  which  were  existing  when  the  confederacy  was  formed 
(about  1450).  The  Mohawks  and  Oneidas  were  in  three, — the  Wolf,  the  Bear,  and 
the  Turtle. 

Confederacies. — Several  of  these,  some  of  them  quite  remarkable,  were  in  exist- 
ence at  the  epoch  of  the  discovery.  Among  them  w  j  the  Iroquois  confederacy  of 
live  independent  tribes,  the  Creek  confederacy  of  six,  and  the  Dakota  league  of  "the 
Seven  C'ouncil-rires."  It  is  probable  that  the  Village  Indians  were  also  confeder- 
ated. The  Innpiois  confederacy,  the  highest  exemplification  of  the  system,  grew  up 
naturally.  Thiee  common  totemic  families  in  all  the  tribes,  the  Wolf,  the  Turtle, 
iiiid  the  Bear,  idforded  an  ample  basis  for  union,  the  remaining  five  in  the  three 
tribes  serving  to  bind  the  three  more  closely  together.  The  Iroquois  aflirm  that  their 
confederacy  was  formed  by  a  council  of  the  wise  men  and  chiefs  of  the  five  tribes, 
wliieli  met  for  that  j)ur|)oHe  on  tlie  north  l)ank  of  Onondaga  Lake,  near  the  site  of 
the  present  city  of  Syracuse,  and  that  Itefore  its  session  was  concluded  the  organiza- 


!i 


I 


248 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


tion  was  perfected  and  put  in  operation.  They  also  affirm  that  it  has  come  down  to 
the  present  time  with  scarcely  a  change  in  its  internal  organization. 

Its  general  features  were  a  union  of  tribes  of  the  same  family,  each  retaining 
independence  and  local  self-government ;  a  general  council  of  sachems,  limited  in 
number,  equal  in  rank,  and  holding  supreme  authority  over  all  matters  pertaining 
to  the  confederacy,  including  the  right  of  the  investiture  of  the  sachems  to  office. 
The  sachems  of  the  confederacy  were  also  sachems  of  their  respective  tribes,  and  the 
council  of  the  tribe  was  left  supreme  over  all  matters  pertaining  exclusively  to  it. 
Unanimity  was  essential  to  any  public  act  in  the  general  council.  The  council  of 
each  tribe  could  convene  the  general  council,  which  could  not  convene  itself.  It 
was  open  to  the  orators  of  the  people  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  public  questions, 
but  the  council  alone  decided.  There  was  no  recognized  head,  one  sachem  having  as 
much  authority  as  another.     They  had  two  principal  war-chiefs,  with  equal  powers. 

The  Onondagas,  being  the  central  tribe,  were  made  the  "  keepers  of  the  council 
brand,"  and  their  valley  was  the  seat  of  government.  The  council  came  in  time  to 
have  three  divisions :  the  "  civil,"  which  declared  war,  made  treaties,  and  looked  after 
the  general  welfare ;  the  "  mourning,"  which  filled  vacancies  in  the  sachemship ;  and 
the  religious,  for  common  religious  observances  and  the  celebration  of  public  games. 
Five  days  was  the  usual  length  of  its  sessions,  which  were  opened  and  conducted 
with  much  ceremony,  and  were  great  occasions  in  Indian  life,  particularly  when 
sacliems  were  installed,  when  the  structure  and  principles  of  the  confederacy  were 
explained  from  belts  of  wampum  for  the  instruction  of  the  newly-inducted  sachem. 
The  belt  or  string  of  wampum  was  devised  as  an  exact  record  of  important  trans- 
actions. Into  it  "  was  talked,"  to  use  their  expression,  the  proposition  or  statement 
made,  of  which  it  became  the  sole  evidence,  but  an  interpreter  yras  required  to  render 
its  meaning. 

The  type  of  tribal  government  is  clearly  patriarchal.  Nothing  can  be  simpler 
or  can  contain  less  of  those  principles  which  writers  regard  as  a  compact  or  agree- 
ment, implied  or  otherwise.  Respect  for  age  constitutes  its  germ.  The  head  of  the 
lodge  rules  by  this  power,  and  the  effect  is  coramensuratt'  with  the  fulness  and  per- 
fection of  the  cause.  Opinion  gives  it  all  its  force,  and  opinion  breaks  its  power  as 
often  LS  it  is  justly  called  in  question. 

Councils  are  called  whenever  the  matter  in  hand  is  more  weighty  than  pertuins 
to  the  affairs  of  a  single  lodge  or  household  fraternity.  The  members  are  called 
o-yi-mas  by  the  Algonkins,  and  by  a  word  of  similar  meaning  among  all  the  tribes. 
I'ersons  who  are  so  associated  are  no  longer  styled  nusa^,  or  fathers,  which  is  the 
term  for  the  head  of  the  lodge  circle.  The  new  term  is  therefore  a  civil  cognomen, 
being  equivalent  to  magistrate. 

Ogimas  who  have  distinguished  themselves  for  wisdom,  good  counsel,  or  elo- 
quence lay  the  foundation  for  expecting  that  office  to  be  continued  in  their  faniilies; 
and  where  the  expectation  is  not  particularly  disappointed,  or  where  it  is  completely 
fulfilled,  tlie  office  is  deemed  hereditary,  liut  the  oflice  at  every  mutation  by  death 
receives  a  new  vitality  from  opinion.     H  no  capacity  for  g(X)d  counsel  is  manifested, 


TUB  TRIBES. 

or  if  there  be  no  examples  of  bravery,  endurance,  or  energy  of  character,  the  office 
of  a  chief  becomes  merely  nominal,  and  the  influence  exercised  is  little  or  nothing. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  there  arise  among  the  class  of  warriors  and  young  men  daring 
and  resolute  men,  whether  gifted  with  speaking  powers  or  not,  opinion  at  once 
pushes  them  on  to  the  chieftains'  seats,  and  they  are  in  effect  installed  and  recognized 
as  chiefs. 

In  the  Algonkin  tribes  the  chiefe  are  the  mere  exponents  of  public  op'nion. 
They  are  prompted  by  it  on  all  questions  requiring  the  exercise  of  any  responsibility, 
or  which,  without  much  responsibility,  are  merely  new.  When  so  prompted  they 
feel  strong.  They  express  themselves  with  boldness,  and  frequently  go  in  advance 
of,  or  concentrate,  the  public  voice,  in  a  manner  to  elicit  approbation.  Tliey  are  set 
forward  by  the  warriors  and  young  men  as  the  mouth-piece  of  their  tribep  to  utter 
views  which  depict  the  Indian  as  a  man  whose  rights  are  constantly  trenched  on  by 
the  whites,  who  has  suffered  many  things  from  the  beginning,  who  endures  con- 
tinued trespasses  on  his  lands,  and  who  is  the  proud  defender  of  the  domain  of  the 
forest  as  the  resting-place  of  the  bones  of  his  fathers.  In  all  such  topics  the  chief 
has  a  free  range,  and  will  be  sure  to  carry  his  listeners  along  with  him.  But  let  the 
topic  be  an  internal  question,  a  fiscal  or  land  question,  a  question  of  division  of  any 
sort,  and  his  power  is  at  an  end.  He  immediately  disclaims  the  idea  of  settling  it 
without  private  councils  with  the  warriors  and  mass  of  the  nation,  and  it  is  »nly 
when  he  has  thus  been  instructed  that  he  returns  to  the  council  to  uphold  or  defeiid 
questions. 

In  such  a  government  of  chiefs  and  councils  resides  the  sovereignty.  They 
make  peace  and  war,  they  conclude  treaties  and  agreements.  Our  government  has 
hitherto  treated  with  them  at  these  open  councils  as  fully  competent  to  exercise  the 
j)ower8  assumed,  and  has  upheld  the  chiefs  and  councils  as  the  rightful  constituted 
authority. 

Such  is  the  civil  organization  of  the  hunter  tribes.  There  is  among  them  no 
formal  mode  of  expressing  opinion,  as  by  a  vote,  unless  it  may  be  termed  acclamation. 
Election  by  ballot,  viva  voce,  or  taking  private  suffrages  in  any  form,  is  a  charac- 
teristic of  high  civilization.  The  natives  never  practised  it.  For  such  of  the  semi- 
civilized  tribes  as  hiive  at  the  present  day  adopted  written  constitutions  and  a  system 
of  elections  these  constitutions  are  referred  to. 

The  government  of  the  civilized  Indians,  and,  indeed,  of  all  the  tribes  of  the 
Indian  Territory,  is  one  of  independent  chiefs,  whose  power,  however,  is  limited,  as 
they  are  still  wards  of  the  United  States  government.  For  the  purjwse  of  punishing 
rriines  against  citizens  of  the  United  States,  the  Territory  is  annexed  to  the  judicial 
district  of  Arkansas  and  Missouri. 


THE   ALOONKINS. — MASSACUUSKTTS   INDIANS. 

When  the  English  landed  in  Massacluisctts,  in  1020,  there  were  some  twenty 
trilx-H  of  Indians  in  the  present  area  of  New  Eiighiiul,  s]H'akiiig  cognate  dialects. 


250 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUB   UNITED  STATES. 


They  were  hunters  and  fishermen,  in  the  lowest  state  of  barbarism,  and  though  they 
never  liad  been,  ajjparently,  densely  2>oi)ulous,  the  tribes  had  then  recently  suflfered 
much  from  a  general  epidemic.  There  were  five  principal  tribes :  the  Nausets,  on 
Cape  Cod ;  the  Pokanokets,  or  Wampanoags,  living  between  Plymouth  and  Massa- 
chusetts Bay ;  the  Massachusetts,  on  and  near  the  bay  of  that  name ;  the  Penna- 
cooks,  on  the  northern  frontier  extending  into  New  Hampshire ;  and  the  Nipmacks, 
in  Central  Massachusetts,  extending  into  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island.  In  manners 
and  customs,  forest-arts  and  traditions,  and  language,  they  did  not  differ  in  their  eth- 
nological type.  They  made  use  in  their  wars  of  the  balista,  which  antique  instrument 
is  represented  several  times,  agreeably  to  Chingwauk's  interpretation,  on  the  Dighton 
Rock. 

In  his  Life  of  Rev.  John  Eliot,  the  Rev.  Cotton  Mather,  in  the  quaint  language 
of  the  times,  describes  the  Massachusetts  Indians  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century  as  follows : 

"  Know,  then,  that  these  doleful  creatures  are  the  veriest  ruins  of  mankind  which 
are  to  be  found  anywhere  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  No  such  estates  are  to  be 
expected  among  them  as  have  been  the  baits  which  the  pretended  converters  in  other 
countries  have  snapped  at.  One  might  see  among  them  what  an  hard  master  the 
devil  is  to  the  most  devoted  of  his  vassals.  These  abject  creatures  live  in  a  country 
full  of  mines ;  we  have  already  made  entrance  upon  our  iron  ;  and  in  the  very  sur- 
face of  the  ground  among  us  there  lies  copper  enough  to  supply  all  this  world ; 
beside?  other  mines  hereafter  to  be  exposed.  But  our  shiftless  Indians  were  never 
owners  of  so  much  as  a  knife  till  we  came  among  them.  Their  name  for  an  English- 
man was  a  knife-man  ;  stone  was  used  instead  of  metal  for  their  tools ;  and  for  their 
coins  they  have  only  little  beads  with  holes  in  them  to  string  them  upon  a  bracelet, 
whereof  some  are  white,  and  of  these  there  go  six  for  a  penny,  some  are  black,  or 
blue,  and  of  these  go  three  for  a  penny.  This  wampum,  as  they  call  it,  is  made  of 
the  shell-fish,  which  lies  upon  the  sea-coast  continually. 

"  They  live  in  a  country  wiiere  we  now  have  all  the  conveniences  of  human  life. 
But  as  for  tliem,  their  housing  is  nothing  but  a  few  mats  tied  about  poles  fastened 
in  the  earth,  where  a  good  fire  is  their  bed-clothes  in  the  coldest  seasons.  Their 
clothing  is  but  a  skin  of  a  beast,  covering  their  hind-parts,  their  fore-parts  having 
but  a  little  apron  where  nature  calls  for  secrecy.  Their  diet  has  not  a  greater  dainty 
tlian  their  uokchich,  that  is,  a  spoonful  of  their  parched  meal,  with  a  spoonful  of 
water,  which  will  strengthen  them  to  travel  a  day  together ;  except  we  should  mention 
the  fiesh  of  deers,  bears,  moose,  racc(K)iis,  and  the  like,  which  they  have  when  they 
can  catch  thein ;  iis  also  u  little  fish,  which  if  they  would  preserve,  'twjis  by  drying, 
not  by  salting,  for  they  had  not  a  grain  (,f  sjilt  in  the  world,  I  think,  till  we  bestowed 
it  on  them.  Their  pliywic  is,  excepting  a  few  odd  specifics,  which  some  of  them 
encounter  certain  cases  with,  nothing  hardly  but  an  hot-house,  or  a  jmwwnw.  Tlieir 
hot-house  is  a  little  cave,  alxiut  eight  feet  over,  where,  after  they  have  terribly  heated 
it,  a  crew  of  them  go  sit  and  sweat  and  smoke  for  an  hour  together,  and  then  imme- 
(liately  run  into  sonic  very  eiild  atljacent  brook,  without  the  least  mischief  to  tliem. 


THE   TRIBES. 


261 


'Tis  this  way  they  recover  themselves  from  some  diseases.  But,  in  most  of  their 
dangerous  distempers,  'tis  a  powwow  that  must  be  sent  for;  that  is,  a  priest,  who  has 
more  familiarity  with  Satan  than  his  neighbors.  This  conjurer  comes,  and  roars,  and 
howls,  and  uses  magical  ceremonies  over  the  sick  man,  and  will  be  well  paid  for  it 
when  he  has  done ;  if  this  don't  effect  the  cure,  the  man's  time  is  come,  and  there's 
an  end. 

"  They  live  in  a  country  full  of  the  best  ship-timber  under  heaven,  but  never  saw 
a  ship  till  some  came  from  Europe  hither ;  and  then  they  were  scared  out  of  their 
wits  to  see  the  monster  come  sailing  in,  and  spitting  fire,  with  a  mighty  noise,  out  of 
her  floating  side.  They  cross  the  water  in  canoes,  made  sometimes  of  trees,  which 
they  burn  and  hew  till  they  have  hollowed  them,  and  sometimes  of  barks,  which 
they  stitch  into  a  light  sort  of  a  vessel,  to  be  easily  carried  over  land ;  if  they  over- 
set, it  is  but  a  little  paddling  like  a  dog,  and  they  are  soon  where  they  were. 

"Their  way  of  living  is  infinitely  barbarous;  the  men  are  most  abominably 
slothful,  making  their  poor  squaws  or  wives  to  plant,  and  dress,  and  barn,  and  beat 
their  corn,  and  build  their  wigwams  for  them ;  which,  perhaps,  may  be  the  reason 
of  their  extraordinary  ease  in  child-birth.  In  the  mean  time,  their  chief  employ- 
ment, when  they'll  condescend  unto  any,  is  that  of  hunting ;  wherein  they'll  go  out 
some  scores,  if  not  hundreds  of  them,  in  a  company,  driving  all  before  them. 

"  They'll  continue  in  a  place  till  they  have  burnt  up  all  the  wood  thereabouts, 
and  then  they  pluck  up  stakes  to  follow  the  wood  which  they  cannot  fetch  home  unto 
themselves;  hence,  when  they  inquire  about  the  English,  'Why  come  they  hither?' 
they  have,  themselves,  very  learnedly  determined  the  case, — it  was  because  we  wanted 
firing.  No  arts  are  understood  among  them,  unless  just  so  far  as  to  maintain  their 
brutish  conversation,  which  is  little  more  than  is  to  be  found  among  the  very  beavers 
upon  our  streams. 

"  Their  division  of  time  is  by  sleeps,  and  moons,  and  winters ;  and,  by  lodging 
abroad,  they  have  somewhat  observed  the  motions  of  the  stars ;  among  which  it  has 
boon  surprising  unto  me  to  find  that  they  have  always  called  Charles'  Wain  by  the 
name  of  Paukunnawaw,  or  The  Bear,  which  is  the  name  whereby  Europeans  also 
have  distinguished  it.  Moreover,  they  have  little,  if  any,  traditions  among  them 
worthy  of  our  notice ;  and  reading  and  writing  is  altogether  unknown  to  them, 
though  there  is  a  rock  or  two  in  the  country  that  has  unaccountable  characters 
engraved  upon  it.  A 11  the  religion  they  liave  amounts  unto  thus  much :  they  believe 
1'  '  there  are  many  gods,  who  made  and  own  the  several  nations  of  the  world;  of 
which  a  certain  great  god,  in  the  southwest  regions  of  heaven,  bears  the  greatest 
figure.  Tliey  believe  that  every  remarkable  creature  has  a  peculiar  god  within  it, 
or  about  it ;  there  is  with  them  a  sun-god,  or  a  moon-god,  and  the  like ;  and  they 
cannot  conceive  but  that  the  fire  must  be  a  kind  of  god,  inasmuch  as  a  spark  of  it 
will  soon  produce  very  strange  effects.  They  believe  that  when  any  good  or  ill 
iiuppcns  to  them,  there  is  the  favor  or  the  anger  of  a  god  expressed  in  it;  and  hence, 
lis  in  a  time  of  calamity  they  keep  a  dance,  or  a  day  of  extravagant  ridiculous 
devotions  to  their  god,  so  in  a  time  of  prosperity  they  likewise  have  a  feast,  wherein 


!•■!» 


252 


TUE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


they  also  make  presents  one  unto  another.  Finally,  they  believe  that  their  chief 
god,  Kamantowit,  made  a  man  and  woman  of  a  stone ;  which,  upon  dislike,  he  broke 
to  pieces,  and  made  another  man  and  woman  of  a  tree,  which  were  the  fountains  of 
all  mankind ;  and  that  we  all  have  in  us  immortal  souls,  which,  if  we  were  godly, 
shall  go  to  a  splendid  entertainment  with  Kamantowit,  but,  otherwise,  must  wander 
about  in  a  restless  horror  forever.  But  if  you  say  to  them  anything  of  a  resurrec- 
tion, they  will  reply  upon  you, '  I  shall  never  believe  it  I'  And,  when  they  have  any 
weighty  undertaking  before  them,  'tis  an  usual  thing  for  them  to  have  their  assem- 
blies, wherein,  after  the  usage  of  some  diabolictil  rites,  a  devil  appears  unto  them,  to 
inform  them  and  advise  them  about  their  circumstances ;  and  sometimes  there  are 
odd  events  of  their  making  these  applications  to  the  devil :  for  instance,  'tis  particu- 
larly affirmed  that  the  Indians,  in  their  wars  with  us,  finding  a  sore  inconvenience 
by  our  dogs,  which  would  make  a  sad  yelling  if,  in  the  night,  they  scented  the 
approaches  of  them,  they  sacrificed  a  dog  to  the  devil ;  after  which  no  English  dog 
would  bark  at  an  Indian  for  divers  months  ensuing.  This  was  the  miserable  people 
which  our  Eliot  propounded  unto  himself  the  saving  of." 

Eliot,  who  has  been  justly  styled  the  Apostle  of  the  Indians,  came  from  England 
in  1631 ;  and  although  charged  with  the  duties  of  a  pastor,  and  taking  a  prominent 
part  in  the  ecclesiastical  government  of  the  New  England  churches,  he  turned  his 
attention,  at  the  same  time,  very  strongly  td  the  conversion  of  the  tribes.  To  this 
end  he  engaged  native  teachers,  and  learned  the  Indian  language.  In  this  he  made 
great  proficiency,  and  soon  began  to  preach  to  them  in  their  vernacular.  Colaborers 
joined  him ;  and  by  their  eflbrts,  native  evangelists  were  raised  up,  under  whose 
labors,  superintended  by  Mr.  Eliot,  Indian  churches  were  established  at  various 
points.  Fifteen  hundred  souls  were  under  religious  instruction  on  Martha's  Vine- 
yard alone. 

In  IGGl  Eliot  published  a  translation  of  the  entire  Scriptures  in  their  language, 
which  is  seen  to  be  a  well-characterized  dialect  of  the  Algonkin.  This  work  evinces 
vast  labor  and  research.  Many  English  terms  for  nouns  and  verbs  are  employed, 
with  the  usual  Indian  inflections.  The  words  God  and  Jehovah  appear  as  synonymes 
of  ]\Ianito,  the  Indian  term  for  Deity.  He  found,  it  appears,  no  term  for  the  verb 
"  to  love,"  and  introduced  the  word  woman  as  an  equivalent,  adding  the  ordinary 
Indian  suffixes  and  inflections  for  person,  number,  and  tense. 

Eliot's  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Indian  language  constitutes  an  era  in 
American  philology.  It  preceded,  it  is  believed,  any  missionary  effort  of  eciiial 
magnitude,  in  the  way  of  translation,  in  India  or  any  other  part  of  the  world,  and 
it  must  forever  remain  as  a  monument  of  New  England  zeal  and  active  labor  in  the 
conversion  of  the  native  tribes.  The  term  Massachusetts  language  is  aj)plied  to  the 
various  cognate  and  closely-affiliated  dialects  of  the  tribes  who  formerly  inhabited 
that  territory.  It  constitutes  a  peculiar  type  of  the  Algonkin,  wiiich  was  spread 
widely  along  the  Atlantic  and  in  the  West. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  the  fate  of  this  jieople,  who  were  the  object  of  so  nmcli 
benevolent  care,  after  the  lapse  of  little  less  than  two  centuries.     The  g.  at  blow  to 


THE   TRIBES. 


253 


the  permanent  success  of  this  work  was  struck  by  the  general  war  which  broke  out 
under  the  indomitable  sachem  called  Metacom,  better  known  as  King  Philip,  who 
drew  all  but  the  Christian  communities  and  the  Mohicans  into  his  scheme.  Even 
these  were  often  suspected.  The  cruelties  which  were  committed  during  this  war 
produced  the  most  bitter  hatred  and  distrust  between  the  parties.  The  whole  race 
of  Indians  was  suspected,  and  from  the  painful  events  of  this  unwise  war,  on  the  part 
of  the  natives,  we  must  date  the  suspicious  and  unkind  feelings  which  were  so  long 
prevalent,  and  which  yet  tincture  the  American  mind. 

In  1849  the  Legislatui-e  of  Massachusetts  directed  inquiries  to  be  made  respecting 
them.  From  the  report  made  on  this  occasion,  there  were  found  to  be  remnants  of 
twelve  tribes  or  local  clans,  living  respectively  at  Chippequiddic,  Christiantown,  Gay 
Head,  Fall  River,  Mar.shpee,  Herring  Pond,  Hassanamisco,  Punkapog,  Natick,  Dud- 
ley, Grafton,  and  Yarmouth.  Their  number  was  estimated  at  eight  hundred  and 
forty-seven,  only  about  seven  or  eight  of  whom  were  of  pure  blood,  the  remainder 
being  a  mixture  of  Indian  and  African.  A  plan  for  their  improvement  was 
proposed.  This  plan  embraced  the  following  features:  1.  The  enactment  of  a 
uniform  system  of  laws,  to  apply  to  every  tribe  in  the  State,  in  the  spirit  of  modern 
philanthropy.  2.  The  merging  of  all  except  those  at  Marshpee,  Herring  Pond,  and 
Martha's  Vineyard  into  one  community.  3.  Granting  to  every  one  who  wishes  it 
the  privileges  of  citizenship,  involving  the  liability  to  taxation.  4.  The  appointment 
of  an  Indian  commissioner  for  their  supervision  and  improvement.  At  present  these 
Indians  number  about  five  hundred,  the  larger  part  of  whom  are  at  Gay  Head,  in 
Duke's  County,  and  Marshpee,  in  Barnstable  County.  They  have  all  lost  their 
original  language,  have  generally  intermarried  with  negroes,  and  are  commonly 
regarded  as  mulattoes.  The  two  towns  above  named  were  incorporated  in  1870. 
Of  the  Stockbridge  tribe,  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  remained,  and  are  at  the 
Greon  Bay  agency,  Wisconsin. 

The  Stockbridges  were  formerly  an  intelligent  and  prosperous  people.  Unfor- 
tunately for  them,  they  left  their  valuable  lands  in  New  York,  and  in  1857  removed 
to  tlieir  present  home.  This  has  proved  highly  detrimental  to  them.  The  soil 
of  tlicir  new  reservation  is  poor,  and  hiis  never  yielded  them  more  than  a  meagre 
subsistence.  For  this  reason  man^  have  left  tlie  tribe,  and  quarrels  and  bickerings 
among  the  residue  have  been  prejudicial  to  the  peace  and  progress  of  the  community. 


•}&. 


>  'i ' 


&M 


m 


MAINE   INDIANS. — ABENAKIS. 

The  Abenakis  formerly  iniiabited  the  territory  which  now  comprises  a  part  of 
the  States  of  Maine  and  New  Hampshire.  They  include  the  Cauibas,  or  tribes 
of  the  Kennebec,  Androscoggin,  Saco,  and  Sheepscott,  of  whom  the  Sokokes  oi 
Pe(iuawketfl,  of  the  Saco,  speak  a  distinct  dialect,  the  Penobscots,  called  Tarrantines 
by  the  early  writers,  and  the  Malecites  (Marechltes),  of  the  St.  Croix  and  the  St. 
John.  The  two  latter  are  the  Etchemins  of  the  early  French  writers.  All  of  these 
speak  dialects  of  the  Algonkin,  and  understand  one  another's  speech.    Abenakis  is  a 


Y. 


W^m^ 


V      i        % 


im 


111! 


m  ¥ 


254 


TIIE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUB  UNITED  STATES. 


geographical  term  adopted  by  the  French,  denoting  the  area  occupied  by  this  tribe 
on  the  first  settlement  of  Canada.  Having  at  an  early  period  received  missionaries 
from  Canada,  they  espoused  the  French  interests  in  tlie  long  contest  between  that 
province  and  the  British  colonists  in  New  England,  and  were  engaged  in  hostilities 
with  the  latter  until  the  conquest  of  Canada.  A  few  years  previous  to  this  event, 
about  1754,  all  but  the  Penobscots  withdrew  into  Canada. 

The  fullest  vocabulary  we  possess  of  the  Abenaki  language  is  furnished  by  the 
manuscripts  of  Father  Kale,  the  zealous  missionary  among  the  Norridgcwocks. 
These  papers  were  published  a  few  years  ago  by  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  at  Boston,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Pickering.  To  the  valuable  data 
thus  furnished,  Mr.  Gallatin  has  added  a  vocabulary  of  the  Penobscot  dialect,  derived 
from  other  sources.  He  observes  that  the  Abenaki  language  has  close  affinities  with 
the  dialects  of  the  other  two  nations  east  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  namely,  the  Etche- 
mins  or  Canoe-men,  and  the  Micmacs  or  Souriquois.  He  fixes  their  geographical 
limits  in  a.d.  ICOO  between  the  Kennebec  and  the  Piscataqua,  observing  that  Gov- 
ernor Sullivan  had  placed  it  definitely  at  Saco,  a  point  which  is  thought  to  be  cor- 
roborated by  the  fact  that  the  French  writers  speak  of  a  tribe  called  Sokokies,  whom 
they  locate  in  that  particular  quarter.  This  last  tribe  is  also  mentioned  by  Colden, 
under  the  name  of  Sohokies,  as  living  eastward  of  Boston ;  and  if,  as  seems  probable, 
the  term  Saco  is  derived  from  them,  it  is  perhaps  the  strongest  trace  they  have  left 
in  the  geography  of  New  Hampshire. 

In  1724  the  Norridgewocks  suffered  a  total  defeat  from  the  New  England  troops, 
losing  their  missionary.  Kale,  in  the  conflict;  after  which  they  migrated  into  Lower 
Canada.  There  are  at  present  a  missionary  and  a  teacher  among  them  in  the  service 
of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions.  By  a  report  from 
the  former,  made  in  1839,  there  were  sixty  persons  returned  as  attending  Protestant 
worship,  of  which  number  twenty-four  were  church  members,  and  twenty  youths 
who  attended  a  daily  school. 

Abenaki  is  a  term  of  obvious  imi)ort.  Wa-bun-onff  is  a  term  denoting  the  east, 
literally  called  "  a  place  of  light."  By  dropping  the  local  inflection  in  Ohff,  and 
adding  the  word  aki,  "  earth"  or  "  land,"  the  phrase  Abenaki — "  Eastlander" — is 
formed.  The  w  is  dropped  by  the  French.  They  also  in  early  times  sometimes 
spelled  the  word  Abenaquies,  in  the  plural,  and  sometimes  Oubenakis.  The  Iroquois, 
according  to  Colden,  called  them  Owenungas,  along  with  the  Pennacooks  and  other 
Northeast  Indians.  Some  of  the  early  English  writers  call  them  Tarrantines,  a  toriii 
employed  by  Wood  to  distinguish  them  from  the  other  New  England  tribes  who  did 
not  use  the  letter  r. 


'   V 
^  '-.' 


PENOBSCOTS. 


The  Penobscot  or  Panawanskek  tribe  were  found  by  the  earliest  explorers  on  the 
river  of  that  name,  near  the  present  location  of  the  small  remnant  of  the  tribe  at 
Oldtown,  near  Bangor.  Their  especial  places  of  rendezvous  were  Mattawamkeag, 
Passadumkeag,  and  Penobscot  Falls.     At  the  two  latter  places  were  French  forts, 


THE  TRIBES. 


255 


with  French  and  Indian  villages.  The  fort  at  Passadumkeag  was  destroyed  by 
Colonel  Thomas  Westbrook  in  1722-23,  and  the  fort  and  village  at  Penobscot  Falls 
by  Captain  Joseph  Heath  in  1725. 

June  21,  1776,  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  recognized  their  claims 
to  "  territories  beginning  at  the  bead  of  the  tide  on  the  Penobscot  River,  extending 
six  miles  on  each  side  of  the  said  river."*  Bangor  was  first  settled  in  1769,  and  its 
chief  settlement  for  several  years  was  near  the  head  of  the  tide.  This  claim  being 
afterwards  found  an  obstacle  to  the  settlement  of  the  country,  Massachusetts,  in 
August,  1786,  sent  three  commissioners,  General  Benjamin  Lincoln,  General  Rufus 
Putnam,  and  Dr.  Thomas  Rice,  to  obtain  a  cession  of  the  territory.  The  tribe  after- 
wards refused  to  ratify  the  agreement  then  made,  and  in  1796  a  new  commission, 
consisting  of  General  William  Shepherd,  Nathan  Dane,  and  Daniel  Davis,  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  release  of  all  their  land  on  the  river,  except  Oldtown  and  the  islands 
in  the  river  above  it,  for  thirty  miles.  This  territory  embraced  one  hundred  and 
eighty-nine  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-six  acres,  and  was  afterwards  sur- 
veyed into  nine  townships.  The  Indians  subsequently  claimed  the  territory  six  miles 
wide  on  both  sides  of  the  river  above  the  thirty  miles  thus  relinquished,  to  an  indefi- 
nite extent,  and  assumed  to  sell  the  timber  from  it.  This  territory  they  also  ceded 
for  a  consideration  in  1818,  and  aft«r  the  separation  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts, 
Maine  assumed  the  obligations  of  the  latter,  and  renewed  the  treaty  at  Bangor, 
August  17,  1820. 

The  Penobscots  are  nearly  related  to  the  Passamaquoddics  (of  whom  about  five 
hundred  reside  at  Davis  Island  and  Pleasant  Point,  on  the  bay  of  that  name),  and 
to  the  Micmacs  or  Malecites  of  New  Brunswick.  They  are  Roman  Catholics,  have 
a  church  and  several  schools,  and  possess  some  devotional  works  in  their  own  lan- 
guage, prepared  by  Rev.  E.  Vetromile,  S.J.  They  have  established  an  elective 
government,  and  number  about  five  hundred. 

PENNACOOKS. 

This  tribe  formerly  occupied  the  Merrimac  Valley.  Their  seat  of  power  was  at 
Amoskeag  Falls.  They  were  in  amity  with  the  surrounding  tribes,  over  whom  they 
exercised  an  important  influence.  They  were  under  the  government  of  a  powerful 
sagamore,  called  Passaconnaway,  who  was  the  depository  botli  of  political  and  of 
religious  power.  His  wisdom  in  council  was  respected,  but  his  power  as  a  native 
priest  and  sorcerer  caused  him  to  be  feared.  He  resisted  the  gospel  when  it  was  first 
offered  him  and  his  band  by  Eliot,  and  they  regarded  the  advent  of  the  whites  in 
the  country  as  fraught  with  influences  adverse  to  their  prosperity  and  destructive  to 
the  aboriginal  tribes.  They  made  the  most  determined  resistance  to  the  settlement  of 
New  England,  and  of  New  Hampshire  especially,  of  any  tribe  on  the  borders  of  the 
North  Atlantic ;  and  when  they  were  expelled  from  the  Merrimac  they  returned 

'  This  Innd,  which  Hecured  their  alliance  in  tlie  Revolutiunary  War,  they  have  since  soUl  picccnioal. 


i: 


or 


^^ 


I-  i 


-  M' 


'it 

i 

m 

i: 

256 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


from  the  nortli  and  west,  whitlier  they  had  fled,  with  a  degree  of  fury  and  spirit  of 
vengeance  which  ia  ahnost  without  a  jniniliel.  These  eventa  are  stated  in  their  order 
in  the  following  observations,  as  gleaned  from  the  authorities  by  a  gentleman  resident 
in  the  district  of  country  whose  aboriginal  history  is  under  discussion.* 

The  voyagers  to  the  coast  of  New  England  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century  found  multiplied  divisions  among  the  several  tribes  of  Indians,  though  all 
speaking  radically  the  same  language,  namely,  the  Algonkin.  Captain  John  Smith, 
one  of  these  early  voyagers,  gives  the  most  minute  account  of  these  tribes.  lie  says, 
"  The  principal  habitations  I  saw  at  Northward  was  Pennobscot,  who  are  in  Warrcs 
with  the  Terentines,  their  next  northerly  neighbors.  Southerly  up  the  Rivers,  and 
along  the  coast,  wee  found  Mecaducut,  Sogocket,  Pemmacjuid,  Nusconcus,  Bagadahock, 
Satcpiin,  Aumughdvwgen,  and  Kenabeca :  to  those  belong  the  countries  and  peojde 
of  Begotago,  Puuhuntanuck,  Pocopassum,  Taughtanakagnes,  Wabigganus,  Nassaque, 
Mauherosquec'k,  Warigwick,  Moshoquen,  Waccogo,  Pasharanack,  &c.  To  those  are 
allied  in  confederacy  the  Countries  of  Aucocisco,  Accominticus,  Passataquak,  Auga- 
woani,  and  Naemkeck ;  all  those,  for  any  thing  I  could  jierceive,  difl'er  little  in 
language,  or  any  thing,  though  most  of  them  be  Bagamos  and  Lords  of  themselves, 
yet  they  hold  the  Bashabes  of  Penobscot  the  chiefe  and  greatest  amongst  them.  The 
next  is  Mattahunt,  Totant,  Massachuset,  Paconekick,  then  Cape  Cod,  by  which  is 
Pawmet,  the  lies  Nawset  and  Capawuck,  ndere  which  are  the  shoulcs  of  Rocks  and 
sands  that  stretch  themselves  into  the  niaine  Sea  twenty  leagues,  tujd  very  dangerous, 
betwixt  the  degrees  of  40  and  41."  Most  cf  those  tribes  named  by  Bmith  occupied 
the  same  relative  positions  for  more  than  a  century  after  the  country  was  permanently 
settled  by  the  English. 

West  of  Cajjc  Cod  were  the  powerful  tribes  of  the  Narragansetts  and  Pequots, 
while  in  the  country,  ujion  the  rivers  and  lakes,  were  several  other  large  tribes, — the 
Nipmucks,  in  the  interior  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  and  occupying  the 
valley  of  the  Merrimac  in  New  Hampshire  and  Ma.ssachusetts,  and  the  Norridge- 
wocks,  seated  upon  the  branches  of  the  Kennebec  and  the  lakes  in  the  northern 
interior  of  Maine.  The  Norridgewocks  were  called  Abenakis  by  the  French,  and 
were  principally  noted  for  their  adherence  to  the  French  interest.s,  and  for  their 
inroads  upon  the  li^nglish  settlements,  which  their  connection  with  the  French  led 
them  to  undertake. 

East  of  the  Penobscot  were  the  Scootucks,  or  Passamaquoddies,  inhabiting  the 
Bcootuck  or  Bt.  Croix  River  and  the  shore  of  Piussamacjuoddy  Ray ;  the  Milicetes, 
in  the  valley  of  the  river  Bt.  John ;  and  the  Micmacs,  occupying  the  rest  of  New 
Brunswick  and  the  ]>eninsula  of  Nova  Bcotiu, 

The  Micmacs  were,  and  still  are,  a  warlike  iwople.  Living  mainly  upon  the 
sea-shore,  athh^tic,  of  jwwerful  frame,  and  most  expert  canoe-men,  they  were  fond  of 
warlike  expeditions,  and  often  were  a  source  of  fear  and  anxiety  to  their  western 
neighbors,  under  the  dreaded  name  of  Tarrantines.    They  even  extended  their  hostile 

'  CImiidlor  E.  Potter. 


TUE   TRIBES. 


267 


expeditions  against  the  tribes  of  Massachusctta,  wiihiu  the  knowledge  of  the  English  ; 
and  in  some  of  the  carlient  stipulations  between  the  tribes  of  New  Hampshire  and 
Massachusetts  and  their  English  neighbors,  mention  is  made  of  their  dread  of  the 
Tarrautincs. 

When  Captain  Smith  coasted  along  the  shore  of  New  England,  in  1014,  making 
the  island  of  Monhegun  the  centre  of  his  oi)erations,  the  I'enobscot  trilw;  was  one  of 
the  most  powerful  in  New  England.  It  was  under  the  control  of  a  bashaba  or  chief 
who  held  the  tribes  of  Maine,  as  far  west  as  the  Saco,  tributary  or  subject  to  him. 
He  was  then  at  war  with  the  Tarrantines,  and  in  1016  that  warlike  people  sent  an 
expedition  against  him  with  such  secrecy  that  they  took  him  by  surprise  and  put 
him  and  his  family  to  death.  Divisions  arose  as  to  the  succetfsion  of  the  bashabu, 
and  the  Tarrantines,  taking  advantage  of  these,  soon  overpowered  the  other  tribes  of 
Maine,  and  extended  a  war  of  extermination  along  the  coast  of  Massachusetts.  Hand 
in  hand,  as  it  were,  with  war  stalked  pestilence,  so  that  in  1020  the  tribes  upon  the 
sea-coast  from  the  St.  Croix  to  Cajie  Cod  had  become  greatly  diminished  in  numbers, 
and  some  places  were  almost  entirely  dejMjpulated. 

Speaking  of  this  depopulation,  Captain  Smith  says,  "  They  had  three  jilagucs  in 
three  years  successively,  neere  two  hundred  miles  along  the  sea-coast,  that  in  some 
places  there  scarce  remained  five  of  a  hundred,  .  .  .  but  it  is  most  certaine  there  was 
an  exceeding  great  plague  amongst  them ;  for  where  I  have  scene  two  or  three 
hundred,  within  three  years  after  remained  scarce  thirty." 

Whatever  this  disease  may  have  been,  it  seems  to  have  extended  little  farther 
south  than  Cape  Cod,  and  to  have  been  limited  in  violence,  at  least,  to  the  tribes  of 
the  sea-coast,  so  that  the  Pilgrims  in  1020,  and  for  many  years  subsequently,  had 
little  to  fear  from  the  once  powerful  tribes  upon  the  sea-shore  north  of  Cape  Cod ; 
while  they  had  to  use  every  precaution  against  the  power  of  the  southern  trilxjs  and 
those  of  the  interior,  which  had  been  less  afflicted  by  disease  and  war. 

At  this  period  the  most  powerful  tribes  of  the  interior,  and  probably  of  New 
England,  north  of  the  Pequots,  had  their  residence  in  the  valley  of  the  Merrimac, 
upon  the  productive  falls  and  fertile  meadows  of  that  beautiful  river.  These 
meadows,  or  "  intervales,"  as  they  are  usually  called,  are  ba.sins  made  up  of  alluvial 
and  vegetable  deposits,  and  were  doubtless  once  covered  with  water,  which  has  grad- 
ually passed  away  through  the  Merrimac,  that,  continually  deepening  its  channel, 
has  burst  the  rocky  barriers  of  those  bays,  or  lakes,  and  left  their  former  beds  dry 
and  aral)le  land.  That  these  "  intervales"  were  submerged  at  a  comparatively  late 
period  hardly  admits  of  a  doubt,  as  the  barriers  of  these  ancient  bays  can  be  readily 
traced  above  Pawtucket,  Amoskeag,  Hookset,  Garvin's,  and  Sewell's  Falls;  and 
upon  most  of  these  basins,  or  intervales,  have  been  found,  far  below  their  surface, 
logs,  fresh-water  shells,  and  other  unmistakable  evidences  of  submersion.  The 
Merrimac  then  was  a  succession  of  bays  from  Lake  Winncj)esaukee  to  the  ocean, 
some  of  which  still  remain  at  SanlM)rnton  and  Meredith,  contributing  so  much  to 
the  bctauty  of  the  scenery  of  that  neighborhood.  These  intervales  were  of  great 
fertility,  and  of  such  ready  jjroductivcnest;  as  to  afl'ord  an  abundant  harvest  to  the 

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208 


TIIK  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  T/IIJ  UNITED  STATES. 


rfcanty  huHbiUi<lry  of  tho  Indian.  More  than  two  centuries  of  culture  have  lianlly 
(lecrciwcd  their  fertility. 

Then  the  Morriniac  afforded  other  superior  advantages  for  Indian  settlements. 
Rising  in  the  White  Mountains  at  an  altitude  of  six  thousand  feet  above  tho  level 
of  the  ocean,  its  waters  find  their  way  to  tho  Atlantic  through  the  distance  of  two 
hundred  and  Kfty  niiloi* ;  and  of  course  there  are  rapids  and  falls  through  most  of 
its  length.  These  afforded  ample  fishing-grounds  to  the  natives,  whereat  to  spear, 
and  take  with  dip-net  and  seine,  the  myriads  of  alewivcs,  shad,  and  salmon  that 
literally  crowded  the  Mcrrimac  during  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  Then  the  woods 
upon  its  bunks  were  filled  with  moose,  deer,  and  bears,  whilst  tho  ponds  and  lakes, 
the  sources  of  its  tributaries,  were  teeming  with  water-fowl. 

In  this  beautiful  valley  of  the  Merrimac,  with  all  these  attractions  of  fertile 
planting-grounds,  an  abundance  of  fish,  and  hunting-grounds  of  unlimitetl  extent, 
the  first  English  adventurers  found  several  tribes  of  Indians  occupying  localities 
chosen  with  Indian  taste  and  with  special  reference  to  the  Indian's  comfort  and 
wants.  From  ita  mouth  far  above  its  aflluenta  the  Winnepesaukce  and  the  Pemi- 
gewasset,  the  shores  of  this  "  silver  stream"  were  dotted  with  Indian  villages.  It  was 
the  very  paradise  of  the  Indian  imagination.  Is  it  a  wonder  that  the  wresting  of  such 
a  home  from  "  the  lords  of  tho  soil"  should  have  been  accompanied  with  strife  and 
bloodshed,  or  that  the  Indian,  in  his  ignorande  and  wildness,  when  driven  from  the 
graves  of  his  fathers  at  the  hands  of  strangers,  should  have  left  the  marks  of  his 
vengeance  behind  him,  traced  with  all  the  horrors  of  the  scalping-knife  and  the  toma- 
hawk ?  It  is  not  strange ;  nor  is  it  so  singular,  or  so  much  a  matter  of  reproach,  as 
that  a  people  fresh  from  the  liwh  of  oppression,  laying  claim  to  much  of  humanity, 
and  ever  bearing  upon  their  arm  the  shield  of  morality  and  religion,  should  have 
driven  the  simple-hearted  natives  from  their  lands  without  even  color  of  right  except 
what  comes  from  that  precept  of  barbarism  that  "  might  makes  right,"  and  without 
even  color  of  title,  when  title  was  pretended,  except  what  was  purchitsed  for  a  few 
blankets,  a  trueking-coat,  a  few  beads  and  baubles,  or,  perhaps  still  worse,  a  runlet  of 
"  occupeo"  or  "  fire-water." 

These  tribes  upon  the  Mcrrimac  were  the  Agawam,  Wamesit  or  Pawtucket, 
Niushua,  Souhegan,  Namaoskeag,  Pennacook,  and  Winnepesaukce.  The  Agawam 
tribe  occupied  the  ea.stern  part  of  what  is  now  Essex  County,  in  Maraaehusetts, 
extending  from  tide-water  upon  the  Merrimac  round  to  Cape  Ann.  Their  terri- 
tory, skirted  upon  two  sides  by  the  Merrimac  and  the  Vtlantic,  indented  by  bays, 
intersected  by  rivers,  and  interspersed  with  ponds,  wius  appropriately  called  Wonne- 
squamsauke,  meaning  literally  tlm  pleasant  watcr-pfare  ;  the  word  being  a  compound 
from  woniie,  "pleasant,"  asquam,  "water,"  and  nuke,  "a  place."  This  word  wius 
sometimes  contracted  to  Woniiescjuam,  often  to  Sqnamsauke,  and  still  oftener  to 
Squam  or  As<piam.  The  deep  guttural  jironunciation  of  asfjnnvi  by  the  Indians 
sounded  to  the  English  like  aijawaiii,  and  hence  the  word  as  applied  to  the  Indians 
of  that  section.  Several  loeiilities  in  Essex  County  are  now  known  by  names  con- 
tracted an<l  derived  from  this  Indian  word  Wonnvsquammuke,  iis  S(juam,  the  name 


THE  TRIBES. 


im 


of  a  piciwant  lmrl)or  and  village  upon  the  north  hIcIo  of  Ciipc  Ann,  and  RwuinpHcott, 
tl»('  niiino  of  a  pli'iiHiint  vlllagt*  in  tlio  I'aHtcrn  part  of  Lynn.  Tho  Wanicnitri  occu- 
l>ii!d  the  forks  of  the  Merrinmc  and  Concord  llivcrH,  near  the  Pawtiicket  FallH  in  the 
former  river.  Wumesit  is  derived  from  wame,  "  all"  or  "  whole,"  and  uiikc,  "  a 
place,"  with  the  letter  «  thrown  in  hetween  the  two  Byllablea  for  the  Hake  of  euphony. 
The  Indian  village  at  this  place  undoubtedly  received  this  name  from  the  fact  that 
it  wiw  a  larffe  village,  the  plure  where  all  the  IndiauH  collected  together.  This  was 
literally  true  in  the  spring  and  summer,  an  the  Pawtucket  Falls,  near  by,  was  one  of 
the  most  noted  fishing-places  in  New  England,  where  the  Indians  from  far  and  near 
gathered  together  in  April  and  May  to  catch  and  dry  their  year's  stock  of  shad  and 
salmon.  Yv'amesit  is  embraced  in  the  present  town  of  Tewksbury,  and  the  city  of 
Lowell,  in  Middlesex  County,  Massachusetta. 

The  Indians  in  this  neighborhood  were  sometimes  called  Pawtucket,  from  tho 
falls  in  the  Merrimac  of  that  name.  Pawtucket  means  the  forks,  being  derived 
from  the  Indian  word  pochatuk,  "a  branch."  The  name  seems,  however,  to  have 
been  applied  by  the  English  rather  to  all  the  Indians  north  of  the  Merrimac  than 
to  the  particular  tribe  at  the  Pawtucket  Falls.  The  Nashuaa  occupied  the  lands 
upon  the  Nashua,  and  the  intervales  upon  the  Merrimac,  opposite  and  below  the 
mouth  of  that  river.  Nashua  means  the  river  with  a  pebbly  bottom,  a  name  which 
is  said  to  have  been  peculiarly  appropriate  before  art  had  deprived  the  stream  of  this 
distinctive  beauty. 

The  Souhegans  lived  upon  the  Souhegan  River,  occupying  the  rich  intervales 
upon  both  banks  of  the  Merrimac  above  and  below  the  mouth  of  the  Souhegan. 
Bouhegau  is  a  contraction  of  Souhekenush,  an  Indian  noun  in  the  plural  number, 
meaning  worn-oat  lands.  These  Indians  were  ot\cn  called  Natujooks,  or  Nacooks, 
from  their  occupying  ground  that  was  free  from  trees,  or  cleared  land, — Natacook 
meaning  a  clearing. 

The  Namaoskeags  resided  at  tho  falls  in  the  Merrimac  known  at  present  by  tho 
name  of  Amoskeag,  and  lying  mainly  in  the  city  of  Manchester.  This  word,  written 
variously  Namaske,  Namaoskeag,  Naumkeag,  and  Naimkeak,  means  the  Jishinff-place, 
from  namaos,  "  a  fish,"  and  auke,  "  a  place." 

The  Pennacooks  occupied  the  rich  intervales  at  Pennacook  now  embraced  in  tho 
trtwns  of  Bow,  Concord,  and  Boscawen,  in  the  county  of  Merrimac.  They  were  thus 
called  from  pennaqui,  "  crooked,"  and  auke,  "  a  place ;"  the  intervales  at  Concord, 
which  are  extensive,  being  embraced  within  the  bends  of  the  Merrimac,  which  winds 
its  way  along  in  a  very  crooked  manner.' 

The  Winnepesaukees  occupied  the  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lake  of  that  name, 
one  of  their  noted  fishing-places  being  at  the  outlet  of  the  Winnepesaukce,  now 
known  as  the  Weirs,  parta  of  permanent  Indian  weirs  having  remained  at  that  place 
long  after  the  advent  of  the  whites.     Winnepesaukce  is  derived  from  winne,  "  beau- 

'  It  umy  be  that  Pcnnncouk  means  tha  grouml-nut  place,  in  which  cage  it  would  bo  derived  iiova  penak, 
"  u  ground-nut,"  and  auke,  "  a  phice," 


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260 


TIJJ-J  IXDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UXITED  STATES. 


tiful,"  7iipc,  "waiiiv" kccs,  "high,"  tind  aukc,  "a  place,"  meaning  literally  the  beautiful 
water  of  the  h'lyh  land. 

Of  these  several  tribes  the  Peniiacooks  were  the  most  powei  ful ;  and  either  from 
their  superior  civilization,  arising  from  a  long  residence  upon  a  fertile  soil,  or  from 
having  been  for  a  long  period  under  the  rule  of  a  wise  chief,  or  perhaps  from  both 
cauises  united,  they  had  become  the  head,  as  it  were,  of  a  powerful  confederacy. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Winnepesaukee,  Amoskeag,  Souhegan,  and  Nashua 
tribes  were  completely  subservient  to  the  I'emiacooks ;  while  the  Wamesits,  with 
whom  they  were  connected  by  constant  intermarriage,  were  mainly  under  their  con- 
trol, acknowledged  fealty  to  Passaconnaway,  and  finally,  with  the  other  tribes  upon 
the  Merrimac,  became  merged  with  them,  and  ceased  to  be  a  distinct  tribe  in  fact  or 
name. 

The  Agawams  were  also  intimately  connected  with  the  Pennacooks,  acknowledged 
fealty  to  them,  and  doubtless  were  one  of  the  earliest  tribes  to  become  merged  with 
them,  but  they  ceased  to  exist  as  a  distinct  tribe  at  so  early  a  date  that  few  i)articulars 
of  their  history  have  been  pre^icrved. 

Besides  the  tribes  in  the  valley  of  the  Merrimac,  the  Pennacooks  had  control 
over  most  of  the  tribes  from  the  Concord  River,  in  Massachusetts,  to  the  sources  of 
the  Connecticut,'  and  from  the  highlands  between  the  Merrimac  and  Connecticut  to 
the  Ki'nnebec,  in  Maine.  It  is  known  that  tlie  Wachusetts,  from  wadehu  (a  moun- 
tain) and  (iii/ce  (a  place),  near  Wachusett  Mountain,  in  Massachusetts;  the  Coosucks, 
from  voodKli  (pines),  upon  the  sources  of  the  Connecticut  River;  the  Pequacpuiuki's, 
from  pe(jiifi(ju!if  (crooked)  and  nuke  (a  place),  upon  the  sources  of  the  Saco,  in 
('arroll  County,  New  Hampshire,  and  Oxford  County,  Maine;  the  Ossipeea,  from 
cnoasfh.  (pines)  and  xipe  (a  river),  upon  the  Ossipee  Lake  and  River,  in  Carroll 
County,  New  Hampshire,  and  York  ('(Uinty,  Maine;  tlie  S(piamscotts,  from  wiiiiie 
(l)eautiful),  a.'ifjuxin  (water),  and  auke  (a  place),  upon  Exeter  River,  in  Exeter,  and 
Htratham,  in  llnckinghiim  County;  the  Winnecowetts,  from  w'uine  (lu'autiful),  roo«.sA 
(pines),  and  aitke  (a  place),  in  the  Hiimpfons  in  tl>e  same  cininty  ;  the  Piscata- 
(piankes,  Wmn  poi^  (great),  altiirk  (a  deer),  and  nuke  (a  place),  up(Mi  the  Piscatacpia 
River,  tlie  buinidapy  l)etween  New  Hampshire  and  Maine;  the  Newicliewannoeks, 
f"r(tni  nee  (my),  veek  (a  contraction  of  weekienm,  a  h<nise),  and  owannoek  (come), 
upon  one  of  tlie  up[)er  l)ranc'!ies  (»f  the  same  river;  the  Sacos,  from  xawa  (burnt), 
(■III)  (pini'K  iiinl  ituke  (a  place),  upon  llie  Saco  River,  in  York  ^.'ounty,  Maine;  ami 
tlie  Am.iriscogirins,  from  ninntiOH  (fish),  keen  (high),  and  nuke  (a  })lace),  upon  the 
Aiidroscdiiniii  Kiver,  which  rises  in  New  Hampshire  and  <'nipties  into  the  Ken- 
nebec,— all  acknowledged  the  power  and  control  of  the  Pennacooks,  and  were 
members  of  the  confederacy  of  which  that  powerful  tribe  was  the  head,  and  Passa- 
connaway the  leading  sagamore  or  bashal)a.  These  Indians  frtmi  the  interior  were 
known  among  the  tribes  upon  the  seii-sborc  by  the  general  name  of  Nipmucks,  or 
fi-e.-ih-wnti  f  /iii/inii.t.     Nipmiick  is  derived  from  iii/t  (still  water)  and  nuke  (a  place), 


('iiiiiiiMlii  111  i.i  (Krivnl  IVuin  ijiiinnr  (luti^'),  lUtml;  (:i  ditr),  ami  miki'  (a  j.laoi'). 


i^r;^  '• 


THE  TRIBES. 


261 


with  the  letter  m  thrown  in  for  the  sake  of  eupliony.  And,  true  to  tlicir  name,  the 
Nipmuoks  usually  had  their  residence  upon  places  of  still  water,  the  ponds  and 
lakes  and  rivers  of  the  interior. 

But  the  Indians  in  the  Merrimac  Valley,  although  properly  Nipmueks  and 
livir.g  in  distinct  bands  or  tribes,  were  usually  called  by  the  English  Pennacooks, 
from  the  fact  that  the  position  of  the  tribe  at  Pennacook,  as  the  head  of  a  powerful 
confederacy,  broi-ght  its  people  in  contact  with  the  English  on  all  occasions  of 
moment,  such  iis  conferences  and  negotiations,  and  hence  the  English,  meeting  Pen- 
nacooks almost  exclusively  on  such  occasions,  applied  their  name  to  the  tribes  gener- 
ally inhabiting  the  Merrimac  Valley.  And  in  course  of  time,  as  the  Indians  became 
reduced  in  numbers  by  emigration,  war,  imd  contact  with  civilization,  the  smaller 
tribes  united  with  the  larger  ones,  till,  in  lG7o,  the  Pennacooks  were  the  only  tribe 
in  the  Merrimac  Valley,  and  held  exclusive  possession  of  it. 

The  Merrimac  naturally  was  only  a  series  of  falls,  rapids,  and  ripples  from  the 
Souhegan  to  the  lower  Pennacook  Falls  (now  Garvin's),  These  afforded  the  most 
ample  opportunity  for  fishing,  and  the  name  of  Namaoskeag  was  doubtless  api)lied 
to  that  section  of  the  river  and  the  adjacent  country ;  but  in  course  of  time,  as  llsh 
became  less  and  less  abundant,  the  name  Namaoskeag  came  to  be  applied  to  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  principal  falls,  now  known  as  Amoskeag,  where  the 
iish  mostly  congregated. 

At  Namaoskeag,  upon  the  bluff  immediately  east  of  the  falls,  was  the  main 
village  or  town  occupied  by  the  Indians,  as  is  plainly  shown  by  the  abundance  of 
arrow-  and  spcar-heacis,  pieces  of  pottery,  and  other  unmistakable  evidences  which 
are  still  to  be  seen  and  found  there ;  while  down  the  river  to  the  Souhegan,  wherever 
there  were  good  iishing-  or  planting-grounds,  were  smaller  settlements.  Such  settle- 
ments existed  in  Bedford,  opposite  Carthageua  Island,  on  land  of  Hon.  Thomas 
Cliandler,  and  opposite  the  mouth  of  Cohius  River.  Vestiges  still  remain  at  the 
former  ji'ace,  as  tbey  did  at  the  latter  till  the  hand  of  improvement  swept  them  away. 
Hut,  as  already  stated,  the  main  Indian  village  was  at  the  "  Falls."  Air.  Eliot  speaks 
of  tills  "as  a  greivt  iisliing-place  [Namaske)  upon  Mcrimak,"  which  "belongeth  to 
I'apassavonnaway." 

Here,  prior  to  l(i.">(),  Passaeonnaway  had  his  prin(  ipal  residence,  and  was  so  anxious 
to  have  tiie  Rev.  Mr.  Eliot  come  here  and  establish  his  community  of  Christian,  or 
"  I'rayinj;,"  Indians,  as  his  pr()selyte.s  were  called,  that  he  offored  to  furnish  him  with 
;my  amount  of  land  he  migiit  want  for  that  purj)ose.  The  old  sagamore  held  out 
such  inducements,  and  the  place  was  of  so  much  imimrtiince,  that  Eliot  at  one  time 
had  serious  thoughts  v>f  establishing  himself  here;  Imt  the  dillieulty  of  transporting 
siip|tlies,  and  the  aversion  of  the  natives  in  Massachusett.s  to  going  farther  north, 
wire  so  great  that  he  thought  "the  liOrd,  by  the  Eye  of  Providence,  seemed  not  to 
Iddk  thither,"  and  ho  located  himself  at  Natick.' 


.»H    ^?' 


'M 


'  Somo  miiko  Notiok  to  luoun  d  phuv  of  kill*;  but  wo  uro  iiu'linud  to  tliiiik  tliat  Nudik  iiu'uiis  a  clear- 
\nij,  or  jiliK'c  froe  trinu  troi's,  troiii  tlio  Iiuliiiii  words  lute  (bare)  and  tuke  (a  jilaco).     Iliiiec  Suldock  (ii 


h 


w 


262 


THE  INDIAN   TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


There  is  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Eliot  afterwards  found  opportunity  to  visit  Namaos- 
keag,  and  to  preach  and  establish  a  school  there,  as  Gookin,  in  his  account  of  the 
"  Christian  Indians,"  names  "  Naamikeke"  as  one  of  "  the  places  where  they  (the 
Indians)  met  to  worship  God  and  keep  the  Sabbath,  in  which  places  there  was  at 
each  a  teacher,  and  schools  for  the  youth  at  most  of  them."  And  as  no  other  man 
established  schools  or  preaching  among  the  Indians  of  the  interior  save  Mr.  Eliot,  it 
follows  that  he  both  preached  and  taught  at  Namaoskeag.  So  that  Namaoskeag, 
now  Manchester,  not  only  has  the  honor  of  having  been  the  scene  of  the  philan- 
thropic labors  of  "  the  Apostle  Eliot,"  but  also  that  of  having  established  within  its 
limits  the  Jirst  "prcaohing  and  school"  that  existed  in  the  State  north  and  west  of 
Exeter,  however  remiss  the  white  inhabitants  of  that  region  may  have  been  in  these 
particulars. 

There  was  another  noted  fishing-place  within  the  territory  of  the  Pennacooks, 
where  shad  alone  were  caught,  which  was  almost  equally  celebrated  with  those  at 
Namaoskeag  and  Pawtucket.  It  was  located  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Winnepesaukee, 
and  wsis  known  by  the  name  of  Ahquedaukenash,  meaning  literally  stopping-places 
or  dams,  from  ahque  (to  stop)  and  auke  (a  place).  This  word  had  for  its  plural 
Ahquedaukenash,  hence,  by  contraction  of  the  English,  Ahquedauken,  and  again, 
by  corruption,  Aquedoctau,  a  name  which  was  extended  by  the  whites  to  the  whole 
Winnepesaukee  lliver.  It  is  a  curious  fact  in  the  history  of  the  fisheries  upon  the 
Merrimac,  that  while  alewives,  shad,  and  salmon  passed  up  the  lower  part  of  the 
Merrimac  in  company,  yet  most  of  the  alewives  went  up  the  small  rivulets  before 
coming  to  the  forks  of  the  Merrimac  at  Franklin,  while  the  salmon  and  shad  parted 
company  at  the  forks, — the  former  going  up  the  Pemigewasset,'  and  the  latter  passing 
up  ♦he  Winnepesaukee.  This  peuiliarity  was  owing  to  the  nj<  res  of  those  fish. 
The  alewives  were  a  small  fish,  and  sought  to  deposit  their  spawn  in  small  lakes 
or  ponds  which  were  easy  of  access,  warm,  and  free  from  the  larger  fish  that  would 
destroy  them  and  their  j)rogeny.  The  shad  wjis  a  much  larger  fish,  and  in  spawning 
sought  large  lakes  where  the  water  wiis  warm  and  abundant ;  while  the  salmon, 
delighting  in  cold,  swift  water,  sought  only  those  rivers  which  were  fed  by  springK 
or  by  rivulets  from  the  ravines  and  gorges  of  the  mountain-sides,  and  which,  mean- 
dering through  dense  forests,  rij)j)ling  over  pebbly  bottoms,  or  rushing  over  rocks 
or  precij)i(!es,  founed  those  ripj)les,  rajjids,  whirlpools,  and  fiUls  which  the  salmon 
love,  and  those  dark,  deep,  cool  basins  or  eddies  in  which  they  deposit  their  spawn. 
Hence  the  fact  that  alewives  were  seldom  found  above  the  forks  of  the  Merrimac, 
while  tlie  salmon  held  exclusive  possession  of  the  cool,  rapid,  dark  Pemigewasact, 
and  the  shad  appropriated  the  warm,  clear  waters  of  the  Winnepesaukee,  none  of 
them  trespiissing  upon  tlic  domain  of  the  other.     The  Ahquedaukenash,  then,  of  the 

cape  in  Yurk  County,  Maine),  and  Nnticook,  or  Nacook,  the  nnuicnt  name  of  Litchfield,  the  town  upon  tlie 
east  Hide  of  tlie  Merriinae,  iin.l  joining  Maiiclicster,  New  lliiinpsliire,  on  the  nouth. 

'  J'emlgeiraiufI  means,  literally,  the  crnok  7  muunlaln-pinr  placf,  from  pcnniiquit  (crooked),  wadclur 
(a  mountain),  ciioiinh  (pines),  ami  auke  (a  place).  B;'  contraction  it  became  I'ennachu-ash-aukc,  and  liv 
corruption  I'eniigewusset. 


THE  TRIBES. 


263 


Indians,  and  the  Aquedauken  and  Aquedoctau  of  the  English,  were  one  and  the 
same  name,  applied  to  the  fishing-place  of  the  Indians  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Winne- 
pesaukee,  now  known  as  "The  Weirs."  This  was  called  Ahquedaukee,  or  the 
Weirs,  from  the  fact  thnt  the  dams  or  weirs  at  this  place  were  permanent  ones.  The 
Winnepesaukee  is  not  a  variable  river,  and  at  the  outlet  of  the  lake  the  water  for 
some  distance  passed  over  a  hard  pebbly  bottom  and  did  noi  average  more  than 
three  feet  in  depth.  This  was  an  excellent  place  for  Ahquedaukenash  or  dams,  and 
could  not  fail  of  being  duly  improved  by  the  Indians.  Accordingly,  as  before  sug- 
gested, they  had  here  permanent  weirs.  Not  being  able  to  drive  stakes  or  posts 
into  the  pebbly  bottom  of  the  river,  they  placed  large  rocks  at  convenient  distances 
from  each  other  in  a  zigzag  line  across  the  river.  Ajainst  these  they  interwove  their 
brushwood  weirs,  or  Ftrung  their  hempen  nets,  according  to  their  ability.  Such 
weirs  were  used  in  the  spring  and  fall,  both  when  the  fish  ran  up  and  when  they 
ran  down  the  river.  Such  Ahquedaukenash  were  frequent  upon  this  and  other  rivers, 
and  the  rocks  thus  placed  in  the  river  by  the  Indians  remained  in  their  position  long 
after  the  settlement  of  the  English  in  that  neighborhood,  and  were  used  by  them  for 
a  like  purpose :  hence  the  name  of  the  Weirs,  as  continued  at  the  present  time. 

The  valley  of  the  Connecticut  in  the  northern  part  of  Massachusetts  and  the 
southern  parts  of  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont  was  a  kind  of  "  debatable  ground" 
betwixt  the  Mohawks  and  Pennacooks,  between  which  tribes  there  was  continual 
war.  Few  places  in  it,  consequently,  were  occupied  permanently  by  the  Indians. 
At  Bellows'  Falls,  and  below,  occasional  parties  of  Indians  were  to  be  found,  both 
of  the  Mohawks  and  of  the  Pennacooks ;  yet  neither  made  permanent  settlements 
there,  for  fear  of  the  other,  nor  made  much  stop  there,  or  in  its  neighborhood,  unless 
they  were  in  such  force  as  to  be  regardless  of  an  attack  from  the  other. 

On  this  account  the  upper  Connecticut  Valley  affords  few  materials  for  Indian 
history.  The  Coos  country,  extending  from  Haverhill  to  the  sources  of  the  Connec- 
ticut, is  an  exception,  as  it  wa.s  occupied  by  a  band  of  Pennacooks,  attracted  there  by 
its  hunting-  and  fishing-grounds.  Those  kept  a  kind  of  armed  possession  of  that 
country  for  the  protection  and  relief  of  the  frequent  parties  which  were  passing  and 
rcpiussing  from  the  various  points  upon  the  Merrimac  to  the  Aresaguntacook' 
Indians,  upon  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  a  tribe  with  which  the  Pennacooks  ever  main- 
tained the  most  friendly  relations. 

With  this  tribe  the  Pennacooks  were  allied  by  frequent  intermarriages ;  and  with 
a  band  of  this  same  tribe,  located  at  the  "  Three  Rivers,"  and  known  as  the  St. 
Francis,  the  remnants  of  tiie  various  New  England  tribes  continued  to  unite,  under 
French  policy,  till  ut  length  it  became  a  powerful  tribe,  and  proved  an  inexhaustiblo 
source  of  annoyance  and  hostility  to  the  colonists  of  New  England.  In  fact,  from 
KUH)  to  17(M)  most  of  the  war-parties  that  visited  the  New  England  frontiers  started 
from  St.  Francis  as  a  rendezvous,  or  had  pilots  and  leaders  from  that  tribe,  naturally 
so  hostile  to  the  English.     It  was  during  the  period  IVom  1030  to  1725  tliat  the 


:t 


Suid  tti  moan  Ihf  place  <>/  ilrlnt  ment. 


264 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


i 


Indians  of  the  Merrimac  Valley  were  in  any  degree  formidable  to  the  English 
colonists. 

Having  thus  given  a  general  account  of  the  localities  occupied  by  the  Pennacooks 
or  Nipmucks  in  the  valley  of  the  Merrimac,  as  well  as  of  the  several  bands  or  tribes 
under  their  control,  or  connected  with  them,  we  shall  follow  out  their  history  more 
particularly. 

Passaconnaway  was  at  the  head  of  the  powerful  Indian  tribe,  or  virtual  confed- 
eracy, of  the  Pennacooks,  when  the  whites  first  settled  in  this  country.  His  name  is 
indicative  of  his  warlike  character, — Papisseconewa,  as  written  by  himself,  meaning 
"  The  Child  of  the  Bear."  *  AVe  first  hear  of  him  in  1627  or  1628.  Thomas  Morton, 
"  mine  host  of  Maremount,"  as  he  writes  himself  in  his  "  New  English  Canaan,"  thus 
speaks  of  him,  being  in  this  country  at  that  time :  "  That  Sachem  or  Sagamore  is  a 
Powah  of  greate  estimation  amongst  all  kind  of  Salvages,  there  hee  is  at  their  Revels 
(which  is  the  time  when  a  greate  company  of  salvages  meete  from  severall  parts  of 
the  Country,  in  amity  with  their  neighboure),  hath  advanced  his  honour  in  his  feats 
or  jugling  tricks  (as  I  may  right  tearnie  them),  to  the  admiration  of  the  8j)ectators, 
whonic  hee  endeavoured  to  jjcrswade  that  hee  would  goe  under  water  to  the  further 
side  of  a  river  to  broade  for  any  man  to  undertake  with  a  breath,  which  thing  hee 
I^erformed  by  swimming  over  and  deluding  the  company  with  casting  a  mist  before 
their  cies  that  see  him  enter  in  and  come  out ;  but  no  part  of  the  way  he  has  bin 
scene :  likewise  by  our  English  in  the  heat  of  all  summer,  to  make  ice  apj)eare  in  a 
bowle  of  faire  water,  first  having  the  water  set  before  him,  hee  hatli  begunne  his 
incantation  according  to  their  usuall  accastom,  and  before  the  same  hath  bin  ended, 
a  thick  clowde  has  darkened  the  aire,  on  a  uodane  a  thunder^clap  hath  bin  heard  that 
has  amazed  the  natives ;  in  an  instant  hee  hath  shewed  a  firm  peece  of  ice  to  flote  in 
the  midtlest  of  the  bowle  in  the  ])resence  of  the  vulgar  people,  which  doubtless  was 
(lone  by  the  agility  of  Satjiu  his  consort."  From  which  marvellous  story  we  are  to 
infer  that  to  the  character  of  a  brave  warrior  Pas.saconnaway  added  tliat  of  a  clever 
juggler.  In  fact,  he  held  his  people  in  great  awe  of  him,  the  Indians  supjxjsing 
him  to  have  supernatural  powers  which  gave  him  control  over  their  destijiies.  It 
was  waid  that  he  could  miike  a  dry  leaf  turn  green,  could  cause  water  to  burn  and 
tlien  turn  to  ice,  and  could  take  the  rattlesnake  in  his  hand  with  impunity. 

AVitli  such  reputed  powers,  his  acknowledged  ability  as  a  warrior,  and  his  wisdonj 
!is  a  sagamore,  Piussaconnaway,  as  we  have  said,  was  the  recognized  head  of  the 
most  powerful  Indian  tribe  east  of  the  Mohawks,  and  as  such  received  the  title  of 
IJasliabu,  a  title  of  much  the  same  import  as  that  of  eniperor. 

Prior  to  102'J  the  tract  of  land  extending  from  the  Piscataqua  to  the  Merrimac 
westward,  and  from  the  line  of  Massachusetts  thirty  miles  into  the  country  north- 
ward, had  been  ex])lored,  and  Mr.  Edward  Cok'ord,  at  the  request  of  certain  gentle- 
men of  Alassaclinsetts,  had  8ti])ulate(l  with  Passaconnaway,  the  sagamore  of  llie 
Pennacooks,  and  with  certain  tributary  chiefs,  for  its  i)urchi»se.     On  the  17th  day  of 


'  Tliis  iKiiiir  i.s  (Ii'rivc'il  fniiit  ])iij>ijiiii,  a  cliild,  anil  kuiimttrn^,  a  l)car. 


THE   TRIBES. 


265 


May,  1629,  a  deed  was  executed  at  Squamscut  (now  Exeter),  with  due  form  and 
ceremony,  conveying  the  above  tract  to  John  Wheelwright  and  his  associates  for 
certain  stipulated  and  valuable  considerations.  This  deed  was  signed  by  Passacou- 
naway,  the  sagamore  of  Pennacook,  Runnawit,  the  chief  of  Pawtucket,  Wahong- 
nonawit,  the  chief  of  Swamscut,  and  Rowls,  the  chief  of  Newichawanack,  and  was 
witnessed  by  two  Indians  and  some  of  the  most  respectable  men  of  the  plantations 
at  Piscataqaa  and  at  Saco. 

The  transaction  was  one  of  importance.  It  shows  that  Passaconnaway,  as  early 
as  1629,  was  not  only  the  chief  of  the  Pcnnacooks,  but  was  also  a  sagamore  at  the 
head  of  a  powerful  confederacy,  and  that  thus  early  he  had  the  sagacity  to  see  the 
superiority  of  the  English  and  to  wish  to  establish  them  as  a  barrier  betwixt  his 
j)eople  and  their  eastern  enemies.  The  deed  expressly  acknowledges,  on  the  part  of 
the  chiefs  of  Pawtucket,  Squamscut,  and  Newichawanack,  their  being  tributary  to  the 
sagamore  of  Pennacook,  the  seventh  and  last  article  stipulating  that  "  every  town- 
ship within  the  aforesaid  limits,  or  tract  of  land,  that  hereafter  shall  be  settled,  shall 
pay  Passaconnaway,  our  chief  sagamore  that  now  is,  and  to  his  successors  forever,  if 
lawfully  demanded,  one  coat  of  trucking-cloth  a  year." 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  Pennacooks  were  an  offshoot  of  one  of  the  South- 
western New  England  tribes,  and  it  is  certain  that  they  spoke  the  same  language 
sa  the  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  Indians.  Some  feud  may  have  driven  the 
ancestors  of  Passaconnaway  to  seek  an  asylum  upon  these  meadows  of  the  Merrimac, 
where  he  could  find  for  himself  and  companions  ready  subsistence  by  taking  game  in 
the  forests,  fishing  at  the  falls,  and  raising  corn  and  other  vegetables  upon  the  inter- 
vales. And  here  we  see  the  striking  effect  that  the  cultivation  of  Indian  corn  has 
upon  Indians.  At  the  present  time  the  Indians  of  the  West  who  plant  corn  are 
more  civilised  than  their  neighbors  who  live  by  hunting.  They  are  less  inclined  to 
rove,  and  are  more  robust  and  intellectual.  Planting,  maturing,  and  gathering  corn 
detain  them  longer  in  the  same  locality  than  any  other  occupation,  and  this  detention 
makes  them  more  social,  more  friendly  and  hospitable  among  themselves,  and  less 
inclined  to  a  roving  life.  The  result  of  this  is  that  such  tribes  become  more  civilized, 
more  numerous,  and  more  powerful. 

This  position  is  true  of  the  former  state  of  the  Pcnnacooks.  They  were  a  semi- 
a<:;ricultural  tribe,  and  this  fact,  coupled  with  another,  that  they  were  for  nearly  a 
hundred  years  under  the  control  of  a  wise  and  j'olitic  sagamore,  accounts  for  their 
acknowledged  superiority  and  power. 

It  may  be  that  their  power  had  been  increasing  with  the  increase  of  the  tribe  for 
centuries,  but,  as  nothing  is  learned  from  tradition  or  otherwise  of  any  sagamore  of 
the  Pennacooks  prior  to  Passaconnaway,  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  the  Peniuicooks, 
as  a  tribe  or  nation,  rose  and  fell  with  this  sagacious,  politic,  and  warlike  chief.  Nor 
in  tliis  a  strange  presumption.  When  we  first  hear  of  Passaconnaway,  in  1629,  he 
had  doubtless  been  at  the  head  of  his  tribe  for  many  years,  long  enough  for  a  saga- 
more possessing  his  j»olitical  and  religious  authority  to  have  brought  the  number 
and  power  of  his  tribe  to  the  height  at  which  our  fathei-s  found  it  at  that  time.     In 

;t4 


•Ki> 


(ft 


i    M 


? 


'     ! 


1-    ' 


,^ 


i  ^ 


^<:' 


266 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


1G29,  Passaconnaway  was  full  one  hundred  years  old,  for  Gookin,  who  spoke  the 
language  of  the  tribe,  and  was  acquainted  with  their  manners  and  customs,  says  that 
"  he  lived  to  a  very  great  age,  tis  I  saw  him  alive  at  Pawtucket  when  he  was  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years  old."  This  was  written  in  1675,  and  it  reads  as 
tliougli  the  old  chief  were  at  that  time  dead.  General  Gookin  probably  saw  him  in 
1048.  Eliot  visited  Pawtucket  in  1647,  and  again  in  1648,  and  found  the  Pennacook 
chief  there.  As  Gookin  jissisted  Eliot  in  his  labors,  and  often  visited  the  Indians 
with  him,  it  is  probable  that  he  saw  Passaconnaway  at  one  of  these  visits.  This 
would  make  the  sagamore  one  hundred  years  old  at  the  time  of  signing  "  The  Wheel- 
wright Deed,"  in  1629.  Still,  it  is  possible  that  Gookin  is  the  man  to  whom  Hub- 
bard refers  when  he  says  that  in  1660  "  one  much  conversant  with  the  Indians  about 
Merrimac  River"  was  invited  to  a  dance,  when  Passaconnaway  made  "  his  last  and 
farewell  speech  to  his  children  and  people."  If  this  be  so,  it  would  make  Passacon- 
naway twelve  years  younger  in  1629  than  he  is  made  by  other  accounts.  Be  this  as 
it  may,  in  1629  he  was  an  "  ancient  Indian,"  and  had  doubtless  been  at  the  head  of 
his  tribe  more  than  sixty  yeare. 

The  Pennacooks  must  have  numbered  at  this  time  from  twelve  hundred  to  fifteen 
hundred  souls.  Dudley  mentioned,  in  1631,  that  Passaconnaway  had  "  under  his 
command  four  or  five  hundred  men,"  plainly  meaning  warriors ;  and  to  allow  the 
tribe  to  consist  of  three  times  the  number'  of  fighting-men  is  not  an  exaggerated 
estimate,  when  due  account  is  taken  of  women  and  children,  and  old  men  and  others 
unfit  for  duty.  Two  thousand  would  doubtless  be  a  fair  estimate  for  the  tribe. 
These  were  scattered  up  and  down  the  Merrimac,  occupying  the  intervales  from  the 
Pawtucket  Falls,  in  Miissachusetts,  to  Lake  Winnepesaukee.  Passaconnaway  ami 
the  chief  men  of  the  tribe  resided  at  Pennacook,  Amoskeag,  and  Naticook.  Amos- 
keag  was  the  place  of  their  abode  during  the  fishing-season,  when  the  banks  of  the 
river  were  thronged,  as  is  evident  from  the  vast  quantities  of  arrow-heads,  pestles, 
j)ieces  of  pottery,  and  the  large  number  of  graves  that  have  been  discovered  up  and 
down  the  river,  while  in  the  planting-sciison  the  residence  of  the  bashaba  was  at 
Pennacook  and  Naticook.  In  time  of  peace,  Piissaconnaway  had  his  principal 
summer  residence  upon  the  large  island  in  the  Merrimac,  in  Concord,  known  as 
Sewall's  Island.  This  island  contains  some  forty  acres  of  excellent  intervale,  and, 
being  situated  at  the  foot  of  the  falls,  where  fish  abounded,  it  was  doubtless  the 
favorite  retreat  of  this  powerful  chief  In  time  of  war  he  retired  to  his  fort,  which 
was  at  Pennacook.  Major  Waldron  states,  in  a  deposition  made  for  the  informa- 
tion of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  in  16(55,  that  six  years  previous  he 
visited  the  fort  of  the  Indians  at  Pennacook,  at  the  invitiition  of  Passaconnaway,  and 
found  there  a  large  gathering  of  Indians.  Tradition,  well  preserved,  has  located  this 
fort  upon  one  of  the  headlands  either  next  north  or  next  south  of  the  intervale 
known  as  "Sugar  Ball,"  in  Concord.  From  a  personal  examination  of  the  head- 
lands in  that  neighborhood,  made  within  a  short  time,  we  have  no  doubt  that  the 
Pennacook  fort  occupied  the  headland  next  south  of  "Sugar  Ball,"  and,  in  fact,  there 
are  still  visible  unmistakable  signs  that  this  is  tiie  locality.     In  this  situation,  secured 


m 


TUB  TRIBES. 


267 


by  nature  and  art,  the  baahaba  could  bid  defiance  to  the  Mohawks  and  others  of  his 
enemies.  Directly  west  of  the  fort,  and  overlooked  by  it,  were  extensive  planting- 
grounds,  easy  of  access,  and  under  cultivation.  In  fact,  within  the  knowledge  of 
the  writer,  the  old  "  Indian  corn-hills"  have  been  plain  to  view  at  this  place,  never 
having  been  disturbed  by  the  settlers,  who  found  this  part  of  the  intervale  cleared, 
and  used  it  for  pasturage  until  a  few  years  ago.  It  is  probable  that  soon  after 
the  occupation  of  Penuacook  by  the  traders,  in  1665,  and  the  building  of  trading- 
and  block-houses  there,  Passaconnaway  took  up  his  residence  mainly  at  the  iflands 
of  Naticook.  These  romantic  and  lovely  spota  upon  the  bosom  of  the  Merrimac, 
which  (verc  chosen  as  chief  residences,  though  now  shorn  of  most  of  their  beauty 
and  dff  lived  of  the  grandeur  that  surrounded  them  then,  still  bear  witness  to  the 
taste  of  the  Pennacook  bashaba. 

P.issaconnaway  saw  the  superiority  of  the  English,  and  with  his  usual  sagacity 
he  perceived  the  entire  hopelessness  of  the  attempts  of  his  people  to  subdue  them. 
His  policy  was  to  make  terms  of  peace  with  them,  and  it  was  in  pursuance  of  this 
policy  that  he  disposed  of  his  lands  to  Wheelwright,  reserving  alone  his  right  to 
fish  and  hunt.  He  lioped  to  make  use  of  the  English  as  a  protection  against  his 
enemies,  who  were  becoming  a  source  of  terror  to  his  people  since  the  plague  had 
thinned  them  out. 

The  Tarrantines  of  the  East  and  the  Maquas  of  the  West  were  making  continual 
inroads  upon  the  New  England  Indians,  and  the  Pennacooks,  like  the  Mohicans, 
were  quite  willing  to  secure  the  friendship  and  protection  of  the  colonists.  Yet  in 
1631  the  prejudice  of  Dudley  led  him  to  denounce  Passaconnaway  as  a  "  witch," 
when  the  old  sagamore  was  exerting  himself  to  keej)  on  terms  of  friendship  with  the 
colonists.  In  September  of  the  following  year  he  gave  a  striking  evidence  of  the 
sincerity  of  his  professions.  Jenkins,  of  Cape  Porpoise,  had  been  murdered  upon 
the  territory  of  the  old  chief,  while  asleep  in  the  wigwam  of  one  of  his  tribe.  Pas- 
saconnaway anticipated  the  English  in  the  arrest,  and,  though  the  murder  wiis  com- 
mitted upon  his  extreme  limits,  he  sent  with  2>rompt  dispatch,  had  the  murderer 
arrested,  and  delivered  him  to  the  English. 

In  1642,  upon  suspicion  that  a  conspiracy  was  forming  among  the  Indians  to 
crush  the  English,  men  were  sent  out  to  arrest  some  of  the  principal  Indian  chiefs, 
Forty  men  were  dispatched  at  this  time  to  secure  Passaconnaway,  but  he  escajjcd 
tiiem  by  rciison  of  a  storm.  Wannalancet,  his  son,  was  not  so  fortunate.  He  was 
taken  by  the  party,  while  his  squaw  escaped  into  the  woods.  But  while  they  bar- 
barously and  insultingly  led  Wannalancet  with  a  rope,  he  loosened  it  and  attempted 
to  make  his  escape.  His  captors  fired  several  shots  which  barely  missed  him,  and 
finally  succeeded  in  recapturing  him. 

For  this  outrage  the  government  of  Msussachusetts  feared  the  just  resentment  of 
Passaconnaway,  and  they  sent  Cutshamokiu,  whom  they  had  arrested  upon  the  same 
occasion  and  had  discharged,  to  excuse  the  matter  to  the  old  chief,  and  to  invite  him 
to  go  to  Boston  and  hold  a  conference  with  them.  The  answer  of  the  old  sagamore 
savors  a  good  deal  of  an  independent  spirit,  and  had  lu'  been  younger  by  a  half- 


'¥' 


lb 


hi: 


i'i  \ 


268 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


century  his  reply  might  have  been  still  more  proud  and  haughty:  "Tell  the  Eng- 
lish," said  he,  "when  they  restore  my  son  and  his  squaw,  then  will  I  talk  with 
them."  The  answer  was  that  of  a  man  who  felt  that  he  had  been  deeply  wronged. 
His  haughty  spirit  must  have  chafed  under  such  wrongs,  and  it  is  possible  that, 
under  the  sting  such  outrages  could  not  fail  to  inflict,  he  regretted  the  policy  he 
had  marked  out  for  himself.  That  the  affair  made  a  deep  impression  upon  his  mind 
and  led  him  to  distrust  the  English,  was  plainly  shown  by  his  conduct  to  Mr.  Eliot 
in  1G47.  The  missionary  had  visited  Pawtucket  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  to  the 
natives.  It  wiis  the  fishing-season,  and  a  vsist  multitude  of  Indians  were  present. 
Among  them  was  Passaconnaway,  with  two  of  his  sons.  The  old  chief,  doubtless 
smarting  under  his  wrongs,  and  thinking  that  a  religion  which  tolerated  such  wrongs 
wius  not  worthy  his  attention,  refused  to  see  Mr.  Eliot,  and  retired  immediately  from 
the  neighborhood,  taking  with  him  his  sons,  saying  that  "  he  wiis  afraid  the  English 
would  kill  them." 

In  1648,  however,  Mr.  Eliot  visited  Pawtucket  with  better  success,  for,  it  being 
the  fishing-season,  he  found  Passaconnaway  there,  and  in  a  mood  to  hear  his  preach- 
ing. Mr.  Eliot  preached  to  the  assembled  Indians  from  Malachi  i.  11.  This  verse 
he  paraphrased  thus :  "  From  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  of  the  same, 
thy  name  shall  be  great  among  the  Indians ;  and  in  every  place  prayers  shall  be 
made  to  thy  name,  pure  prayers,  for  thy  name  shall  be  great  among  the  Indians." 
The  Indians  paid  the  most  respectful  attention,  and  after  the  discourse  was  closed 
asked  many  appropriate  questions.  After  others  had  suggested  questions  and  made 
remarks,  Pa-ssaconnaway  arose  amid  the  most  profound  attention,  and  announced  his 
belief  in  the  God  of  the  English.  "  He  remarked,"  says  Mr.  ICliot,  in  a  letter  of 
November  12,  1648,  "  that  indeed  he  had  never  prayed  unto  God  as  yet,  for  he 
never  had  heard  of  God  before  as  now  he  doth.  And  he  said  further  that  he  did 
believe  what  I  tjiught  them  to  be  true.  And  for  his  own  part,  he  was  purposed  in 
his  heart  from  thenceforth  to  jiray  unto  God,  and  that  hee  would  persuade  all  his 
sonnes  to  doe  the  same,  pointing  to  two  of  them  who  were  there  present,  and  naming 
such  as  were  absent." 

The  old  sagamore  was  doubtless  sincere  in  his  change  of  religion,  and  continued 
in  the  Christian  belief  till  his  death.  For,  "  long  after,"  says  Eliot,  "  he  said  to 
Captain  Willard  'that  he  would  be  glad  if  I  would  come  and  live  in  some  piac*; 
thereabouts  to  teach  them.  .  .  .  And  that  if  any  good  ground  or  place  that  \iw  had 
would  be  acceptable  to  me,  he  would  willingly  let  me  have  it.' " 

Mr.  Eliot,  in  a  letter  bearing  date  October  21),  1(541),  thus  speaks :  "  I  had  and 
still  have  a  great  desire  to  go  to  a  great  fishing-place,  Namaske,  upon  the  Merriniac 
lliver,  and  because  the  Indians'  way  lieth  beyond  the  great  river,  which  we  cannot 
j)ass  with  our  horses,  nor  can  we  well  go  to  it  on  this  side  of  the  riv<!r,  unless  we  go 
by  Naahaway,  which  is  about  and  a  bad  way  unbeaten,  the  Indians  not  using  the 
way ;  I  theri'tore  hired  a  hardy  man  of  Niushaway  to  boat  out  a  way,  and  to  mark 
trees,  so  that  he  may  pilot  me  thither  in  the  spring.  And  he  hired  Indians  witli 
him  and  did  it,  and  in  the  way  he  passed  through  a  great  people  called  Sowahiigcii 


THE  TRIBES. 


2G9 


Indians,  some  of  which  had  heard  me  at  Pawtucket  and  Nashua,  and  had  carried 
lioiiie  such  tidingH  that  tliey  were  genemMy  stirred  with  u  desire  that  I  would  come 
and  teach  them ;  and  when  they  saw  a  man  come  to  cut  out  the  way  for  me  they 
were  very  glad ;  and  when  he  told  that  I  intended  to  come  that  way  next  spring, 
they  seemed  to  him  to  be  full  of  joy,  and  made  him  very  welcome."  "  But  in  the 
Hpring,  when  I  should  have  gone,  /  was  not  well,  it  being  a  very  sickly  time,  so  that  I 
saw  the  Lord  prevented  me  of  that  journey.  Yet,  when  I  went  to  Pawtucket, 
another  fishing-place,  where  from  all  parts  they  met  together,  thither  came  diverse 
of  these  Sowahagen  and  heard  me  teach."  And  in  thib  same  letter  Mr.  Eliot  goes 
on  to  say  that  Passaconnaway,  the  "  Great  Sachem"  of  all  the  tribes  that  dwelt  in 
the  valley  of  the  Merrimac,  "  did  exceeding  earnestly  and  importunately  invite  me 
to  come  and  live  at  his  place,  and  teach  them.  He  used  many  arguments.  .  .  . 
This  was  one :  that  my  coming  once  a  year  did  them  but  little  g(K)d,  because  they 
soon  forgot  what  I  had  taught."  He  enforced  his  meaning  thus :  "  You  do  as  if 
one  should  come  and  throw  a  fine  thing  among  us,  and  we  should  catch  at  it  earnestly 
beccuse  it  appears  so  beautiful,  but  cannot  look  at  it  to  see  what  is  within ;  there 
may  be  in  it  something  or  nothing,  a  stock,  a  stone,  or  precious  treasure ;  but  if  it  be 
opened,  and  we  see  what  is  valuable  therein,  then  we  think  much  of  it.  So  you  tell 
us  of  religion,  and  we  like  it  very  well  at  first  sight,  but  we  know  not  what  is  within  ; 
it  may  be  excellent,  or  it  may  be  nothing — we  cannot  tell ;  but  if  you  will  stay  with 
us,  and  open  it  to  us,  and  show  us  all  within,  wo  shall  believe  it  to  be  as  good  as  you 
say  it  is." 

This  comparison  seems  more  like  one  from  a  civilized  being  than  from  a  savage 
chief  just  embracing  Christianity,  and  is  one  of  those  unmistakable  marks  in  the  life 
of  Ptussaconnaway  that  show  him  a  man  of  eloquence  and  wisdom. 

These  extracts  from  Mr.  Eliot's  letters  establish  important  facts,  as  follows.  That 
the  usual  trail  or  path  of  the  Indians  from  Sowahagen,  Namaske,  and  places  above, 
upon  the  Merrimac,  to  Pawtucket,  was  upon  the  east  side  of  the  Merrimac,  and 
doubtless  down  Beaver  Brook.  That  the  first  bridle-path  from  Nashua  to  Namaske 
was  marked  and  beaten  in  1G48  for  the  accommodation  of  Mr.  Eliot.  That  Eliot, 
before  this  date,  had  preached  at  Nashua,  where  the  Sowahagen  Indians  had  hesird 
him.  That  a  large  body  of  Indians,  known  as  Sowahagen  Indians,  lived  upon  the 
Merrimac,  upon  its  west  bank,  above  Nashua,  and  at  and  upon  Sowahagen  River. 
And,  la.stly,  that  Namaske,  or  Namaskeke,  was  upon  the  Merrimac  above  Sowahagen, 
and  at  the  place  now  known  as  Namaskeke  or  Nama.ske,  Amoskeag,  and  not  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Pawtucket  Falls,  as  is  erroneously  claimed  by  some  writers. 

We  hear  nothing  more  of  Passaconnaway  or  his  people  till  1000.  At  that  time, 
])oing  of  very  great  age,  he  was  seen  by  an  Englishman  at  Pawtucket,  who  was  much 
conversant  with  the  Indians  upon  the  Merrimac.  It  is  possible,  as  before  suggested, 
that  this  Englishman  was  General  Gookin. 

There  was  a  vast  jussemblage  of  the  Indians  at  Pawtucket,  and,  l)<)rne  down  with 
age  and  cares,  the  old  sagamore  at  a  public  feast  made  his  farewell  speech  to  his 
people,     On  such  occasions  the  old  sagamores  relate  the  prominent  incidents  of  their 


MX 

if  I!* 


i,r  ,; 


270 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


lives  in  songs  and  speeches,  and  give  advice  to  their  people.  It  is  highly  probable 
that  the  fact  hud  been  announced  to  the  confederate  tribes  that  Passaconnaway  was 
about  to  make  his  farewell  address  to  his  people.  The  anticipated  event  called 
together  an  unusual  assemblage.  The  chiefs  were  gathered  from  all  the  confederate 
tribes,  eager  to  hear  the  last  words  of  their  "  Great  Sagamore,"  who,  through  his 
wisdom,  his  natural  powers  of  eloquence,  and  his  supposed  knowledge  of  the  mysteries 
of  nature,  possessed  an  unbounded  influence  over  the  Indians. 

The  occasion  filled  all  with  sorrow,  in  spite  of  Indian  stoicism.  Passaconnaway 
was  deeply  affected,  and  his  voice,  though  tremulous  with  age  and  emotion,  was  still 
musical  and  jwwerful, — a  splendid  remnant  of  that  which,  in  the  fulness  and  vigor 
of  manhood,  had  soothed  or  excited  the  passions  of  assembled  savages  and  moulded 
them  to  suit  the  purposes  of  the  speaker. 

"  Hearken,"  said  he,  "  to  the  words  of  your  father.  I  am  an  old  oak  that  has 
withstood  the  storms  of  more  than  a  hundred  winters.  Leaves  and  branches  have 
been  stripped  from  me  by  the  winds  and  frosts:  my  eyes  are  dim,  my  limbs  totter,  I 
must  soon  full.  But  when  young  and  sturdy,  when  no  young  man  of  the  Penna- 
cooks  could  bend  my  bow, — when  my  arrows  would  pierce  a  deer  at  a  hundred 
yards,  and  I  could  bury  my  hatchet  in  a  sapling  to  the  eye, — no  weekwam  had  so 
many  furs,  no  pole  so  many  scalp-locks,  as  Passaconnaway's.  Then  I  delighted  in 
war.  The  whoop  of  the  Pennacook  was  heatd  upon  the  Mohawk, — and  no  voice  so 
loud  as  Passaconnaway's.  The  scalps  upon  the  pole  of  my  weekwam  told  the  story 
of  Mohawk  suffering. 

"  The  English  cuine ;  they  seized  our  lands ;  I  sat  me  down  at  Pennacook.  They 
followed  upon  my  footsteps ;  I  made  war  upon  them,  but  they  fought  with  fire  and 
thunder ;  my  young  men  were  swept  down  before  me  when  no  one  was  near  them. 
I  tried  sorcery  against  them,  but  still  they  increased  and  prevailed  over  me  and 
mine,  and  I  gave  place  to  them,  and  retired  to  my  beautiful  island  of  Naticook.  I, 
that  can  make  the  dry  leaf  turn  green  and  live  again  ;  I,  that  can  take  the  rattle- 
snake in  my  i)alm  as  I  would  a  worm,  without  harm  ;  I,  who  had  communion  with 
the  Great  8j)irit,  dreaming  and  awaking  ;  I  am  powerless  before  the  pale-facos.  The 
oak  will  soon  break  before  the  whirlwind  ;  it  shivers  and  shakes  even  now ;  soon  its 
trunk  will  be  prostrate;  the  ant  and  the  worm  will  sport  upon  it!  Then  think, 
my  children,  of  what  I  say.  I  commune  with  the  Great  Spirit.  lie  whispers  mo 
now,  '  Tell  your  people.  Peace,  peace  is  the  only  hope  of  your  race.  I  have  given 
fire  and  thunder  to  the  pale-faces  for  weapons ;  I  have  made  them  plentier  tium  the 
leaves  of  the  forest,  and  still  they  shall  increase.  These  meadows  they  shall  turn 
with  the  plough  ;  these  forests  shall  fall  by  the  axe ;  the  j)ale-face8  shall  live  upon 
your  hunting-grounds  and  make  their  villages  u})on  your  fisli  iig-places.'  The  Great 
Spirit  says  this,  and  it  must  be  so.  We  are  few  and  powerless  before  them.  We 
must  bend  before  the  storm.  The  wind  blows  hard.  The  old  oak  trembles.  Its 
branches  are  gone.  Its  sap  is  frozen.  It  bends.  It  falls.  Peace,  peace  with  the 
white  men,  is  the  command  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  the  wish — the  last  wish — of 
Passaconnaway." 


THE  TRIBES. 


271 


It  has  boon  supposed  that  Passaconnaway  died  about  this  time,  and  our  historicH 
are  silent  about  hiiu  after  the  time  of  the  delivery  of  "  his  dying  speech  to  his  chil- 
dren." But  this  supposition  is  erroneous.  Passaconnaway  was  alive  in  1003,  and  at 
the  head  of  his  tribe,  so  that  his  speech  of  IGGO  can  hardly  ha  considered  his  "dying 
speech"  without  some  stretch  of  the  imagination.  Captains  Willard  and  Johnson, 
and  others  of  the  commission  of  1052,  were  rewarded  by  grants  of  land  near  Dun- 
stable, upon  the  Merrimac.  In  1G56  a  grant  of  land  was  made  to  William  Brenton, 
of  Rhode  Island,  at  Naticook,  ujmn  both  sides  of  the  Merrimac,  including  what  is 
now  Litchfield,  and  the  part  of  Merrimac  below  Souhegan  Iviver,  in  consequence 
of  his  assistance  in  furnishing  the  colonial  troops  with  horses  in  their  expeditions 
against  the  Narragansetts  and  other  Indians.  The  grant  was  known  as  "  Brenton's 
Farms." 

In  1G59,  October  10,  Major  Waldrou  petitioned  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts 
for  the  grant  of  a  township  at  Pennacook.  In  this  year  Waldron  had  visited  Pen- 
nacook  in  person,  at  Passaconnaway's  invitation,  and  found  him  with  a  large  gather- 
ing of  Indians  at  the  fort  on  Sugar  Ball  Hill.  A  personal  view  of  the  intervales  at 
this  place,  then  under  cultivation  by  the  Indians,  doubtless  raised  in  the  mind  of 
Waldron  the  desire  to  possess  so  fine  a  spot.  Passaconnaway  told  him  that  Merrimac 
was  the  proper  name  of  the  river,  and  that  Pennacook  and  Naticook  were  names  of 
places  upon  it.  Waldron's  petition  was  received  with  favor,  and  a  township  was 
granted  him  and  his  associates  at  Pennacook. 

Passaconnaway  was  thus  "  hedged  in"  above  and  below  by  traders,  and  by  those 
having  grants  from  the  government  of  Massachusetts.  He  had  already  been  deprived 
of  his  planting-grounds  at  Naticook,  where  he  had  planted  for  a  long  while,  and 
the  Legislature  had  announced  their  intention  to  grant  his  lands  at  Pennacook  when- 
ever "  so  many  should  present  to  settle  a  plantation  there."  It  seemed,  therefore, 
that  he  soon  would  not  have  land  enough  to  erect  a  wigwam  upon,  and  on  May  1), 
1GG2,  he  presented  the  following  petition  to  the  Legislature : 


"  The  Humble  request  of  y'r  petitioner  is  that  this  honerd  Courte  wolde  pleas  to 
gninte  vnto  vs  a  parcell  of  land  for  o'r  comfortiible  cituation ;  to  be  shited  for  o'r 
Injoyment,  as  also  for  the  comfort  of  oth's  after  vs;  as  also  that  this  honerd  Court 
wold  pleas  to  take  into  y'r  serious  and  grave  consideration  the  condition  and  also  the 
riMjueste  y'r  pore  Supliant  and  to  a  poynte  two  or  three  persons  as  a  Committee  to 
Alithsum  one  or  two  Indians  to  vew  and  determine  of  some  place  and  to  Lay  out  the 
Humo,  not  further  to  trouble  this  honerd  Assembly,  humbly  cravinge  an  expected 
answer  this  present  sesiou  I  remain  y'r  humble  Servante 

"  Pai'isseconewa." 

The  order  of  the  Court  upon  this  petition  is  as  follows :  "  In  answer  to  the 
petition  of  Papisseconneway,  this  Court  judgeth  it  meete  to  grante  to  the  saide 
I'apisseconneway  and  his  men  or  associates  about  Natticot,  above  Mr.  Brenton's 
lands,  where  it  is  free,  a  mile  and  a  half  on  either  side  of  Merrimac  River  in  breadth. 


I^ii 


i 


> 


272 


TUK  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


three  miloa  on  either  Hi(U)  in  length,  provided  ho  nor  they  do  not  nlienate  any  part 
of  thi«  grant  without  leave  and  lieenwe  from  thiH  Court,  (irnt  ohtained."  Two  perHoiiB 
were  a})pointed  surveyorn  to  lay  out  tluH  townehip  for  riiHsaeonnaway  and  IiIh  uwo- 
ciatos, — a  duty  which  they  executed  promptly  and  faithfully,  giving  liiin  an  ample 
tract  a  mile  and  a  half  in  depth  along  the  Merrinuic,  together  with  two  Hmall  inlandH 
in  the  river.  One  of  the  iHlaiulH'  I'aM<aconnaway  had  lived  upon  and  planted  a 
long  time.  They  alno  allotted  him  "  ahout  forty  aercH,  which  joyneth  their  land  to 
Souhegan  River." 

It  thuri  appearH  that  in  Ichs  than  twenty  yearH  from  the  time  that  PaMsaconnaway 
tir8t  suhmitted  hiniHclf  to  the  coloniHtu,  and  put  hiniHclf  under  their  protection,  he 
and  \\M  triho  were  literally  reduced  to  heggary.  The  hiuihaha  of  the  Merrimac 
Valley,  and  the  rightful  owner  of  ail  its  hroad  lands,  had  become  a  "  pore  petitioner" 
for  a  plantation  of  ])ine  i)lainH,  and  did  "  earnestly  requent  the  Ilonerd  C-ourt  to  grant 
two  small  islandH  and  ye  ])atch  of  intervaile"  to  them, — receiving  them,  douhtlesH, 
with  all  due  submission  and  thankfulness,  if  not  humility !  Old  age,  a»  well  as 
contact  with  civilization,  nnist  have  done  ita  work  upon  the  s|)irit  of  this  haughty 
sagamore,  who  now  so  meekly  asked  his  usurj)ers  to  grant  him  what  was  projterly 
his  own.  For  his  sale  at  Exeter  did  not  embrace  "these  two  small  islands  or  yo 
patch  of  intervaile ;"  and  Massachusetts  never  pretended  even  a  purcha^  from  the 
Indians  of  the  Merrimac  Valley  till  after  thfc  date  of  this  transaction. 

PiiHsaconnaway  had  four  sons,  if  no  more,  and  probably  two  daughters.  His 
oldest  son,  Nanamocomuck,  was  the  sagamore  of  Wachuset,  the  section  of  country 
about  Wachuset  Mountain,  in  Massachusettj^.  Mr.  Eliot  saw  him  at  Pawtucket  in 
1048.  He  :it  that  time  promised  to  become  a  praying  Indian.  1  lo  wiw  inimical  to 
the  English,  and  removed  to  the  Ameriscoggin  country,  in  Maine.  He  was  father 
of  the  afterwards  noted  chief  Kaucaraagus,  or  John  Hmlgkins.  In  a  petition  to 
"  the  Worshipful  Richard  Bellingham,  Esq.  (iov.,"  signed  by  Wannalancet  and  other 
Indians,  they  state  that  they  sold  a  certain  island  to  redeem  an  Indian  out  of 
"  bondage  whose  name  is  Nanamocomuck,  the  eldest  sonn  of  Piissaconnaway."  This 
settUv  a  much  mooted  question,  and  shows  conclusively  the  name  of  Passaconnaway's 
"eld<  V  sonn.*' 

Tiu'  second  son  of  Piissaconnaway,  and  his  successor,  was  Wannalancet.  We 
think  Unawuntjuosett  and  Nonatomenut  were  \\w  names  of  two  other  scms  of  Paasi- 
connawuy,  lus  their  names  are  atta'-hed  to  the  ]>('Ution  referred  to  above.  The  wife 
of  Naldiow  appears  to  have  been  the  daughter  of  i'a.ssaconnaway.  Another  danghtiT 
of  his  n»arried  Montowampatc,  the  sagamon;  of  8augns,  prior  to  KJ'JH,  and  was 
sej)arated  from  him  in  conse(pience  of  a  dilficulty  betwixt  him  and  her  father. 


'  Thc«c  islnnilH  are  now  known  as  Rood's  ImIiukIm,  and  it  would  be  a  tribu'u  wortliilv  bestowed  upon  u 
worthy  man,  should  they  bo  known  hcroulU-r  ax  1'a.s.saL'unnaway'M  iHland.s.  In  fact,  the  opposite  hinds,  once 
the  home  of  \n»  tribe,  would  have  a  more  appropriate  and  more  euphonious  name  were  they  called  Pu8sa- 
eonnawuy  rather  than  Litchfield  ;  and  the  inhabilants  of  this  town  would  diH|iluy  ;;(iod  taste  should  they 
follow  the  example  of  8unnapec,  and  by  Aet  of  Liv^islalure  axsunie  llu^  a|ipri>]>rial('  and  euphonious  name  of 
"  Pa«saconnaw»y." 


1 


TUK   TRIBES. 


273 


!'..;■ 


BUOOK   IBLAND   INDIANS. 

Thrco  tribes  claimed  jurisdiction  over  the  territory  which  now  constituteH  Soutli- 
wcHteru  llhode  Island, — tlie  Niantics,  the  I'etiuotw,  and  the  NarragansettH.  Tho 
former,  a  comparatively  mild  and  jH!aceful  tribe,  were  wellnigii  cruHlied  by  tho  more 
warlike  l*e(|Uotjj,  and  atlerwanU  confederated  with  the  Narragansett*!,  with  whom  iw 
tributaricH  they  ever  after  remained.  The  territory  of  the  Niantics  extended  from 
the  I'aweatuck  Kiver  to  VVeecapang,  on  the  coast,  and  back  into  the  forests  about 
thirty  miles.  Tliis  was  the  theatre  of  struggle  with  the  Pequots,  who  succeeded  iu 
1G32  in  extending  their  territory  ten  miles  east  of  tho  I'aweatuck.    . 

THE  NARRAOAN8ETT8. 

This  famous  tribe,  which  anciently  held  jurisdiction  over  most  of  the  present  State 
of  Rhode  Island,  were  able  in  their  palmy  days,  under  Canonicus  and  Miantonomo,  to 
call  into  the  lield  nearly  four  thousand  warriors.  Within  a  distance  of  twenty  miles 
they  had  twelve  town«.  Historians  have  treated  the  Narragansctts  and  tJie  Niantics 
lU)  one  nation.  After  the  "  (Jreat  Swamj)  light,"  in  Kingston,  in  1G75,  which  broke 
the  sway  of  the  Narragansetts  and  nearly  exterminated  them,  these  tribes  were  con- 
solidated. The  territory  of  the  Narragansetta  included  the  islands  in  the  bay,  and  a 
{wrtion  of  Long  Island.  They  were  the  most  civilized  and  the  most  faithful  to  the 
English  of  all  the  New  England  tribes.  They  cultivated  some  of  their  land,  and 
were  skilful  in  making  wampum,  stone  tobacco-pipes,  and  earthen  vessels  for  domestic 
use.     Their  hospitality  was  a  conspicuous  trait. 

Koger  Williams  aiys,  "  They  had  many  strange  relations  of  one  Wectucks,  a 
man  that  wrought  great  miracles  among  them,  and  walked  upon  the  waters,  &c.,  with 
some  kind  of  broken  resemblance  to  the  Sonne  of  God."  They  believed  that  Kan- 
tantowit,  their  chief  divinity,  resided  far  away  to  the  southwest,  in  the  land  of  soft 
winds,  summer  warmth,  jwrennial  fruits,  and  prolific  hunting-grounds.  That  he 
might  reach  this  happy  place  was  the  Indian's  highest  hope.  But  the  grossly  wicked, 
it  was  believed,  would  forever  wander  in  regions  of  coldness,  barrenness,  and  dark- 
ness. The  two  great  divinities  among  the  Pequots  were  Kitchtan,  the  author  of 
good,  and  Hobamocho,  the  author  of  evil.  They  held  to  a  threefold  nature  in  man, 
— the  flesh,  which  at  death  returns  to  the  earth ;  the  ])ure  spirit,  which  at  death 
piu><se8  at  once  to  the  state  of  rewards ;  anil  a  semi-animal  soul,  which  lingers  for  a 
time  with  the  body  after  the  pure  soul  has  left  it. 

The  remnant  of  the  Narragansetts  are  on  their  reservation  in  Charlestown,  Rhode 
Island.  Their  aboriginal  life  has  almost  wholly  disappeared,  and  something  like 
civilization  has  taken  \U  place.  They  have  a  church  and  a  school-house,  and  a  gov- 
ernment of  their  own,  subordinate,  however,  to  the  State  government.  In  1858  the 
tribe  numbered  only  one  hundred  and  thirty -eight  souls,  not  one  of  whom  was  of 
pure  blood. 

35 


'*  ;<[ 


f  ;;!• 


t   ' 


274 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


CONNECTICUT   INDIANS. 

The  Pcquote,  who  were  almost  wholly  within  the  limits  of  Connecticut  at  the 
first  settlement  of  the  country,  were  the  most  warlike  and  powerful  tribe  east  of  th" 
Hudson  Itiver.  Though  outiuimbercd  by  their  immediate  neighbors,  the  Narragan- 
setts,  with  whom  they  were  continually  at  war,  and  surjjassed  by  them  also  in  civili- 
zation, yet  their  bravery  and  ferocity  in  battle,  their  love  of  war,  and  their  cruelty 
to  captives,  gave  them  the  pre-eminence,  and  made  the  name  of  Pequot  a  word  of 
terror  to  every  Indian  ear.  They  occupied  the  area  now  included  in  the  towns  of 
New  London,  Groton,  and  Stonington.  When  the  English  first  came,  Sassacus,  the 
chief  sachem  of  the  Pequots,  luul  his  royal  residence  in  a  large  fortress  on  a  com- 
manding hill  in  Groton,  from  whence  he  continually  made  hostile  incursions  into 
the  surrounding  country.  Upon  th }  Mystic  River,  eastward,  not  far  from  Stonington, 
he  had  a  strong  fort,  and  around  him  were  seven  hundred  brave  warriors.  This 
stronghold  was  surprised  May  26,  1037,  and  nearly  the  whole  tribe  was  destroyed. 
Sassacus,  with  the  small  remnant  of  it,  fled  to  the  Mohawks,  who  slew  the  sachem 
and  incorporated  his  warriors  into  their  own  body,  and  the  dreaded  Pecpiota  disap- 
peared from  history. 

Directly  north  of  the  Pcquots  lay  the  country  of  the  Mohicans,  the  only  tribe 
which,  from  first  to  last,  proved  friendly  to  the  whites.  It  was  a  small  tribe,  probal/ly 
a  fractio'ial  portion  of  the  Pecjuots,  Uncas,  its  sachem,  whose  abilitioa  gave  the  trilie 
subsequent  importance  in  our  history,  being  himself  of  Pequot  orig.'n.  The  inuall 
remnant  of  Pequots  and  Mohicans  who  took  refuge  in  New  York  were,  in  1857, 
removed  to  a  poor  reservation  in  Wisconsin.     Barely  one  hundred  survive. 

By  the  E'  ;;lish  the  aborigines  of  the  Connecticut  Valley  were  known  as  River 
Indians.  The  various  tribes  had.  however,  no  bond  of  political  connection,  ea<'h 
being  independent  of  all  the  others  and  governed  by  its  own  chief.  In  ancient 
Windsor  alone,  the  largest  centre  of  Indian  population,  there  were  no  less  than  ten 
distinct  sovereignties.  They  were  also  numerous  in  Ilaitford  and  Wethersfield.  In 
East  Hartford,  upon  the  river  bearing  their  name,  the  Podunks  could  muster  two 
hundred  warri<irs.  The  Matt;ibesetts  Asere  at  Middletown,  and  the  AVongungs  at 
Chatham,  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river.  Lyme  wjis  the  dwelling-j)lace  of  the 
Nehanties,  and  Ea.st  Iladdam,  then  cidled  Maehemoodus,  was  occupied  by  a  tril)e 
whose  su|)posed  intercourse  with  evil  spirit.s  was  in  some  way  connected  with  tiie 
celebrated  "  ^loodus  noises." 

West  of  the  river  the  tribes  were  also  numerous.  The  Quinnipiacks  dwelt  in  New 
Haven.  There  were  snuill  tribes  at  East  Haven,  (luilford,  and  Branford.  They 
were  scattered  along  the  Sound  at  Derby,  Stratford,  Norwalk,  Stiunford,  and  Green- 
wich, and  especially  at  Alilford.  They  were  fountl  as  far  west  a.«  Wotxlbury,  New 
Hartford,  and  Sinisbury,  and  "the  pleasant  banks  of  the  Twakis,  in  Varmington," 
were  inhabited  i)y  a  warlike  tribe,  whose  numbers,  according  to  rresi(h'iit  Stiles, 
were  greater  tiian  those  of  miy  utliir  in  the  neii^iiltdrfiood  of  tiie  ('(innirticut. 


THE  TRIBES. 


276 


ALLEGUANS. 

The  oldest  tribe  of  the  United  States  of  which  there  is  a  distinct  tradition  were 
tlie  Allegans,  or  Alleghans.*  The  term  is  perpetuated  in  the  principal  chain  of 
mountains  traversing  the  country.  This  tribe  at  a  remote  period  had  the  seat  of 
their  power  in  the  Ohio  Valley  and  its  confluent  streams,  which  were  the  sites  of  their 
numerous  towns  and  vi^'iges.  They  appear  originally  to  have  borne  the  name  of 
Alii,  or  Alleg,  ant'  hence  the  names  Talligewi  and  Allegewi.  By  adding  to  the  radical 
of  this  word  the  particle  haiiy  or  ghany,''  meaning  river,  they  described  the  principal 
scene  of  their  residence, — namely,  the  Alleghany,  or  River  of  the  AUeghans,  now 
called  Ohio.  The  name  Ohio  is  of  a  far  later  period.  It  was  given  by  the  Iroquois 
after  their  conquest  of  the  country  in  alliance  with  the  Lonape,  or  ancient  Dcla- 
wares.  The  term  waa  applied  to  the  entire  river,  from  its  confluence  with  the 
ISIississippi  tci  its  origin  in  the  broad  spurs  of  the  AUeghanies  in  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania ;  and  it  is  still  so  applied  by  the  Iroquois  people.  The  transparency 
and  brightness  of  the  waters  of  the  Alleghany  River,  and  the  liveliness  and  force  of 
its  current,  correspond  strikingly  with  those  of  the  Ohio,  attesting  the  discrimination 
and  propriety  of  the  original  designation ;  while  the  Monongahela,  its  southern  fork, 
is  a  still,  dark,  and  turbid  stream. 

The  French,  when  they  came  to  behold  the  Ohio^  River,  and  to  admire  the 
enchanting  vistas  presented  by  its  banks,  as  scene  after  scene  opened  up  to  them,  like 
the  scrolls  of  a  beautiful  panorama,  literally  translated  the  Iroquois  name,  and  called 
it  La  Belle  R'wih'c.  For  the  possession  of  this  country,  blessed  with  a  fertile  soil, 
a  genial  climate,  and  a  nuich-piized  fauna  and  natural  productions,  great  al)original 
wars  had  been  waged  ages  befoie  Columbus  turned  his  prow  towards  the  New  V^orld. 
From  the  traditions  of  the  Lcnape,  given  to  the  Moravian  missionaries  while  the 
lamp  of  their  traditionary  history  still  thresv  out  its  flickering  flames,  the  AUeghans 
appear  to  have  been  a  strong  and  mighty  people,  capable  of  great  exertions  and 
doing  wonders.  There  were  giantw  among  them.  The  Lenape  came  from  the  west. 
On  reaching  the  Mississippi  they  found  the  AUeghans  occupying  its  eastern  borders. 
They  also  found  the  Iroquois,  whom  they  call  Uncle,  seated  north  of  them ;  and  a 
long  war  ensued.     This  tribe  allied  themselves  with  the  i.ivaders.     To  defend  them- 

'  T lio  Irega  of  the  Suuth  Atlantic  consta  are  of  a  prior  era ;  hut  the  tradition,  rostini^  on  a  8inp;Ic 
authority,  ha«  not  boon  examined.  The  same  ronuirk  may  bo  applied  to  the  Utinati,  Icosans,  Savanucas, 
I'atticax,  WapooH,  and  some  othcni  of  the  Floridian  regions,  extending  to  the  Mi8si.s.sippi,  who  constituto 
interesting  themes  of  researeh. 

'  This  influetii  n  is  written  hanna  in  Susquehanna  and  Loyalhanna,  and  httnnock  in  Rappahannr.K,  but 
rotains  it.s  original  forn  of  yhnny  in  Youghioghany,  the  main  fork  of  the  Monongahela.  These  rivers  all 
(jrigiiiate  in  the  Alleghmy  range, — the  eastern  proeinets  of  the  territory  of  the  aneient  AUeghans. 

'  The  true  Indian  sound  is  o-ke'o,  but,  a.s  the  letter  i"  in  Freneh  oichiigniphy  repre.sent.s  the  Knglish  e 
long,  it  took  this  form  of  notation.  The  exclamatory  transitive  ])iirtirle  I'o,  as  heard  in  this  word,  and  in 
Ontario,  etc.,  when  preceded  by  tlio  interjection  Oh  I  ahitrtly  ullcred,  may  bo  translated  "  How  beautiful  a 
scene !" 


»(«> , 


"wpp 


276 


THE  INDIAN  TIfIIij!.S  OF  TUE   UNITED  STATES. 


selves,  the  Alleghans  surrounded  their  villigcs  with  intrenchments,  and  luiilt  fortifi- 
cations. This  story  is  sustained,  and  enhirged  in  some  particulars,  by  Iroquois 
tradition,  in  which  the  combination  of  the  Northern  against  the  Southern  tribes  is 
made  to  appear  more  extensive,  and  tlie  power  possessed  by  the  latter  in  building 
forts  and  compelling  labor  is  represented  as  very  great.  Both  traditions  agree  that 
the  Alleghan  confederacy  was  finally  defeated  and  driven  down  the  Mississippi. 

The  rude  vestiges  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  sufficiently  tell  the 
story  of  the  people  who  once  dwelt  here,  and  present  as  correct  a,  picture  of  their 
arts  and  condition  as  the  ruins  of  civilized  nations  do  of  theirs.  A  pipe  of  the 
laph  oHurix,  or  of  serpentine ;  an  awl,  fish-hook,  or  needle  of  bone ;  a  knife  or  dart 
of  obsidian  or  flint ;  a  discoidal  stone,  to  be  used  in  athletic  amusements ;  a  medal  of 
sea-shell ;  a  gorget  of  mica ;  an  arm-band  of  native  copper ;  a  tumulus  raised  over 
the  dead ;  a  mound  of  sacrifice  to  the  sun ;  a  simple  circumvallation,  or  a  confused 
assemblage  of  ditches,  mounds,  and  lines  around  a  village ;  a  ring-fort  on  a  hill ;  a 
terraced  ])latf')rm  of  earth  to  sustain  tlie  sacred  residence  of  the  Indian  priest  and 
ogima, — these  must  be  deemed  evidences  which  accurately  restore  to  the  mind  of  the 
iiKjuirer  the  arts  of  tlieir  authors.  They  answer,  1  am  inclined  to  think,  the  oft- 
repeated  inquiry,  Who  erected  these  earthworks?  The  only  wonder  vi  that,  with  such 
vigor  of  character  as  the  traditions  denote,  the  Alleghans  had  not  done  more  in  arts 
and  refinements.  The  evidences  of  antique  labors  in  the  alluvial  plains  and  valleys 
of  the  Sciot(i,  Miami,  and  Muskingum,  the  Wabash,  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  and  Illinois, 
denote  that  the  ancient  Alleghans,  and  their  allies  and  confederates,  cultivated  the 
soil  and  were  semi-agriculturists.  These  evidences  have  been  traced,  at  late  periods, 
to  the  fertile  table-lands  of  Indiana  and  Michigan.  The  tribes  lived  in  fixed  towns, 
c\iltivating  extensive  fields  of  mai/e,  and  also,  as  denoted  by  recent  discoveries,  of 
some  species  of  l)eans,  vines,  and  esculents.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  Alleghans 
were  the  Mound-Builders. 

DELAWAUES. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  this  tribe  occupied  the  banks  of  a  large 
river,  flowing  into  the  Athmtic,  to  which  they  applied  the  name  of  Lenapihittuk. 
This  term  is  a  compound  of  Letiapi,  the  name  given  to  themselves,  and  !t(uk,  a  geo- 
graphical term  which  is  ecjuivalent  to  the  English  word  "domain"  or  "territory," 
and  is  inchisive  of  the  specific  tsrpu,  th.eir  name  for  u  river.  After  the  sii>  rcssful 
planting  of  a  colony  in  Virginia,  the  coast  became  more  subject  to  observation  than 
at  prior  perioils,  by  vessels  bound  to  Jamestown  with  supplies.  On  one  of  these 
voyages.  Lord  1  )e  la  Warre  j)ut  in  to  the  capes  of  the  river,  and  hence  the  present 
name  of  both  the  river  and  the  tribe. 

The  true  meaning  of  the  term  Lcnapi  has  been  the  subject  of  various  interpreta- 
tions. It  appears  to  carry  the  same  meaning  as  Iitaha,  "a  male,"  in  the  other 
Algonkin  dialects,  and  the  word  was  probaoly  used  nationally,  ami  with  emphasis,  in 
the  sense  of  "  men."  ^Ve  learn  from  (heir  traditions  that  tiiey  liiid  regarded  them- 
selves in  past  ages  as  holding  an  emiiieiil  position  for  anti([uity,  valor,  and  wisdom; 


THE  TRIBES. 


211 


I  wisduiu ; 


and  this  claim  appears  to  have  heen  recognized  by  the  other  tribes  of  this  lineage, 
who  applied  to  them  the  term  Grandfather.  To  tlie  Iroquois  thcj  applied  the  word 
Uncle,  and  this  relation  the  Iroquois  reciprocated  with  the  term  Nephew.  The  other 
tribes  of  Algonkin  lineage  the  Delawares  called  Brother  or  Younger  Brother.  These 
names  establish  the  ancient  rank  and  influence  of  the  tribes. 

Most  of  tlie  tribes  are  organized  on  the  principle  of  emblematic  totems.     The 
Delawares  originally  consisted  of  three  of  these  subdivisions, — namely,  the  turtle, 
or  unami,  the  mins%  or  wolf,  and  the  unalachigo,  or  turkey.     Their  sachems,  with 
the  council  of  old  men,  regulated  all  their  atfairs.     The  French,  who  had  little 
intercourse  with  them  till  they  crossed  the  AUeghanies,  called  the  whole  nation 
Loups,  or  wolves,  confounding  them  with  the  Mohicans  of  the  Hudson,  who  appear 
in  the  formative  tribal  ages  to  have  been  descendants  of  the  wolf  totem.     The  turkey 
and  turtle  tribes  occupied  the  country  along  the  coast  between  the  sea  and  the  Kit- 
tatinny  or  Blue  Mountains,  their  settlements  extending  as  far  east  as  the  Hudson  and 
west  to  the  Potomac.     The  Monseys  or  wolf  tribe,  the  most  active  and  warlike  of  all, 
occupied  the  mountainous  country  between  Kittatinny  and  vhe  sources  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna and  th.f  Delaware,  kin«'.iing  their  council-fire  at  the  Minisink  Flats,  on  the 
Delaware  River  above  the  W.iter-Gap.     A  part  of  the  tribe  dwelt  on  the  Susque- 
hanna, and  they  had  also  a  village  and  a  peach-orchard  at  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware, 
where  Nazareth  is  now  situated.     These  three  principal  tribes  were  subdivided  into 
numerous  small  clans.     The  Delawares,  from  all  accounts,  held  a  prominent  place  in 
Indian  history.      Their  wars  against  the  ancient  tribes  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  the 
great  influence  they  possessed  for  so  long  a  period  among  the  ilgonkin  tribes  along 
the  Atlantic  coasts,  extending  from  the  Kanticokes,  on  the  Ciicsapeake,  to  the  Hud- 
son, and  even  into  New  England,  the  wisdom  of  their  ancient  chiefs  and  council- 
lors, and  the  bravery  of  their  warriors, — these  are  the  themes  of  their  ancient 
traditions.     And  these  reminiscences  of  the  Delawares'  golden  age  apjjcared  to  rest 
!ipon  their  minds,  at  late  periods,  with  more  force  in  proportion  as  the  tribe  grew 
weak  and  lost  power.     T.'ieir  ancient  alliance  with  tlie  ^nxuiois  during  the  wcr 

;■  linst  the  AUeghans  contunied,  we  may  infer,  as  long  as  they  retained  thjir 

li'Uury  prowess  and  enterprise. 

i  •  the  rise  of  the  Iroquois  power  the  Delawares  lost  their  independence,  and 
■I  inrced  to  tussuuie  the  name  of  women  and  forego  the  us(r  of  arms.  We  have  no 
dai  ;  .  these  mutations.  Early  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  Dutch  carried  on  a 
friendly  traflic  with  them.  They  were  kindly  treated,  in  l(i82,  by  William  Penn. 
We  hear  of  no  Iroquois  protests  against  their  selling  their  lands  at  that  time.  It  is 
probable  ln.il  imne  had  been  made.  The  progress  of  the  settlements,  however,  shows 
tiiat  in  a  few  years  such  a  power  to  control  the  Delawares  Wiis  gained.  A  very 
striking  evidence  of  this  occurred  d-.nng  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty  at  Lancaster  in 
1744.  The  Iroquois,  in  the  pnwence  of  the  large  assemblage  of  the  tribes  on  thi« 
occiusion,  denied  the  right  of  the  Delawares  to  alienate  lands,  (^inassatego,  an  Iro- 
quois chief,  upbraided  them  in  public  C(Uincil  for  some  former  act  of  that  kind, 
!;  >eaking  in  a  strain  of  mixed  irony  and  arrogance,  he  tohl  theiu  not  to  reply  to  his 


!;-'s 


'  i. 

•i  1:1 


■^.il 


i!   ; 


.11  .-, 


278 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TIIE   UNITED  STATES. 


words,  but  to  leave  the  council  in  silence.  He  peremjjtorily  ordered  them  to  quit 
the  section  of  country  where  they  then  resided,  and  to  remove  to  the  banks  of  the 
Susquehanna.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  state  of  submission  in  which  the  Dela- 
waress  felt  themselves  to  be  to  the  confederate  power  of  the  Iroquois,  it  does  not  appear 
that  the  right  to  control  them  had  been  publicly  exercised  prior  to  this  time.  It  was, 
however,  with  this  proud  nation  but  a  word  and  a  blow.  They  accordingly  quitted 
forever  the  banks  of  their  native  Delaware,  the  scene  of  many  memories,  and  the 
resting-place  of  the  bones  of  their  ancestors,  and  turned  their  f^ices  towards  the  west. 
At  the  opening  of  the  lievolutiou  they  shook  off'  the  Iroquois  yoke,  and  a  few  years 
afterwards  the  Iroquois  confessed  at  a  public  council  that  the  Delawares  were  no 
longer  women. 

In  1756  we  find  them  living  at  Shamokin,  and  at  Wyalusing,  on  the  Susque- 
lianiui, — positions  in  which  !  •/  were  threatened,  on  the  one  hand,  by  the  intrusion 
of  the  white  emigrant,  and,  o/)  ther,  harassed  by  the  momentary  dread  of  the 

Iroquois  tomahawk.  It  was  tlu  sfortune  of  the  Delawares  that  an  impression 
prevailed  in  the  English  colonies  that  they  were  under  French  influence.  This 
impression,  whether  well  or  ill  founded,  pervaded  society  in  Southern  New  York  to 
such  a  degree  that  in  1744  the  Moravian  mission  at  Shikomico,  in  Dutchess  County, 
was  broken  up  and  transferred  to  Bethlehem,  on  the  Susquehanna,  which  Count 
Zinzendorf,  three  years  before,  had  chosen  as  the  seat  of  his  operations.  The  impres- 
sion lost  none  of  its  force  from  an  avowal,  by  the  band  at  Wyalusing,  of  the  princi- 
])les  of  peace  and  non-resistance  taught  by  the  conscientious  disciples  of  both  Penn 
and  Zin/ondorf.  This  doctrine  wivs  embraced  with  great  zeal  by  one  of  their  speakers, 
called  Papanhank,  who,  in  17oG,  made  a  journey  of  two  hundred  miles  to  Philadel- 
phia, whore  he  addressed  an  assemblage  of  moral  persons,  and  concluded  by  kneeling 
down  and  making  an  impressive  prayer. 

Men  who  devoted  themselves  with  simplicity  of  intention  to  one  object  did  not 
probably  make  as  much  effort  to  disabuse  the  public  mind  on  this  head  as  would 
appear  to  have  been  desirable  at  the  jjcriod.  The  country  was  engaged  in  an  Indian 
war,  which  raged  on  the  frontier  from  Quebec  to  New  Orleans.  IJraddock  had  beou 
defeated  the  year  before.  France  wiu  making  a  formidable  effort  to  save  her  Indian 
empire,  and  England  and  Americ^a  an  ecpially  formidable  one  to  destroy  it.  It  is 
certain  that  the  suspicion  of  being  friendly  to  the  French  followed  the  Delawares  in 
their  removal  across  the  Alleghanies,  and  during  their  settlement,  under  the  auspices 
of  their  teachers,  on  the  waters  of  the  Muskingum.  Nor  did  their  position  hen' 
tend  to  remove  it,  but  rather  to  strengthen  it.  Gnadenhiitten  became  to  the  Dela- 
wares in  heart,  as  it  was  in  name,  the  Tents  of  Peace.  They  addressed  themselves 
to  agriculture  and  grazing.  They  were  devoted  to  their  teachers.  They  refused  to 
join  the  warlike  j)arties  that  j)assed  through  their  towns  on  their  forays  of  murder 
and  plunder  against  the  frontiers.  It  was  not  in  their  power  to  refuse  these  parties 
victuals,  but  tliey  supplied  them  with  no  means  of  offenw,  and  expressed  their  prin- 
ciples of  peace,  both  as  among  tiie  Indian  tribes  and  the  whites.  But  the  impression 
grew  stronger  and  stronger  in  the  Ohio  Valley  that  they  were  in  communication 


THE   TRIBES. 


279 


with  the  enemy.  The  borders  of  the  new  States  were  literally  drenched  in  blood  by 
marauding  parties  of  Indians,  who  butchered  the  pioneers  in  their  cabins  and  carried 
their  childrcii  away  into  captivity.*  And  this  impression  against  the  Delawares 
finally  levl  to  tlie  most  tragic  results. 

Nor  wa.s  it  alone  the  frontiersmen  who  were  excited.  The  Indian  tribes,  towards 
whom  they  had  observed  the  policy  of  neutrality,  were  alike  displeased.  Counsels 
of  peace  to  them  were  thrown  away.  They  could  neither  understsind  nor  tolerate 
them.  They  lived  in  war  and  plunder,  and  the  result  was  that,  after  repeated  threats, 
a  Wyandot  war-party  suddenly  appeared  on  the  Muskingum  and  ordered  the  Dela- 
wares to  Upper  Sandusky.  All  excuses  were  vain.  The  party  were  inexorable. 
They  killed  many  of  the  cattle  and  hogs,  and,  in  1781,  removed  the  population  of 
three  towns,  numbering  between  three  and  four  hundred  persons.  After  living  at 
Sandusky  a  year,  the  Delawares  were  j)ermitted  to  return  to  the  banks  of  the  Mus- 
kingum. The  settlers  on  the  Monongahela  heard  of  this  return  with  alarm.  The 
British  not  having  yet  surrendered  their  northern  posts  on  the  Miami  of  the  Lakes 
and  at  Detroit  antl  Michilimackinac,  and  the  Indians  throughout  that  vast  region 
continuing  to  manifest  the  deepest  hostility,  iis  shown  by  the  fierce  battles  against 
Generals  llarmar  and  St.  Clair,  the  return  of  such  a  body  of  men,  who  had  been, 
it  seems,  removed  by  the  authority  of  the  commanding  ofiicer  at  Detroit,  looked  like 
a  hostile  movement.  Such  it  was  not,  as  is  now  known,  for  the  Moravian  converts 
ainong  the  Delawares  had  been  instructed  in,  and  sincerely  adopted,  the  principles 
of  peace  and  non-resistance.  Of  all  doctrines,  these  were  the  least  understood  by  the 
hardy  frontiersmen,  who,  through  a  long  and  bloody  experience,  had  been  led  to  look 
upon  the  Indian,  when  under  the  excitement  of  war,  iis  a  tiger  in  his  thirst  for  blood, 
and  alike  destitute  of  mercy  or  symjiathy.  So  much  may  be  said  in  apology  for  the 
inhuman  and  unjustifiable  mtussacre  in  1782  of  the  unresisting  Moravian  Delawares, 
who  evinced  in  their  submissive  deaths  no  little  of  the  spirit  of  St.  Stephen.  This 
massacre  wrought  up  tiie  feelings  of  resentment  of  the  Wyandots  and  other  hostile 
tribes  of  the  West,  who  were  under  the  influence  of  the  basest  white  counsellors,  to 
(lie  highest  pitch  of  fury;  and  when,  later  in  the  same  year.  Colonel  Crawford  and 
Ills  command  were  defeated  on  the  plains  of  Sandusky  by  the  Wyandots  and  their 
allies,  they  sacrificed  that  ofiicer  and  his  son-in-law  at  the  stake  in  the  presence  of 
some  of  their  renegade  white  counsellors. 

The  Delawares,  with  the  Wyandots,  Shawanoes,  Miamis,  and  other  Western 
tribes,  who  had  been  in  arms  on  the  frontiers,  were  parties  to  the  general  treaty  of 
(ireenville  in  17! (5,  and  were  admitted  to  the  terms  of  peace.  Friendly  relations 
witli  the  whites  were  further  strengthened  by  the  treaty  of  Fort  Wayne  in  1803,  and 
that  of  Vincennes  in  1804 ;  and  from  the  earliest  of  these  dates  the  frontiers  were 
relieved  of  their  war-parties,  and  rested  in  a  general  peace  with  all  the  tribes  till  the 


'  Botwecn  the  years  1777  and  1779  not  less  than  fourtocn  persons  of  the  name  of  Schoolcraft  (roliitions 
of  the  author)  were  killed  by  the  Indians,  in  tlieir  hiniseM  or  on  their  jmnuises,  in  Clarke  County,  Virginia, 
liy  Nkulking  war-partieH.     (De  HWs  Herder  Warfare.) 


;(  il 


w  \ 


\-'\n. 


a 


TiWP 


280 


Tilt:  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


\  : 

'If'  ': 


primary  movement  made  by  Tecumseli  in  1811-12.  Tlie  idea  of  Indian  supremacy 
in  America,  so  strongly  urged  upon  the  tribes  by  Pontiac  in  1763,  when  Great 
Britain  waa  the  impinging  powei-,  was  revived  by  Tecumseh  after  the  lapse  of  fifty 
years.  But  fifty  years'  decline  had  broken  the  spirit  of  the  population,  and  had 
almost  annihilated  Indian  nationality. 

The  Delawares  have  been  regarded  by  some  as  an  ancient  tribe  in  the  Ohio 
Valley.  Their  traditions  denote,  indeed,  that  they  had  in  former  ages  crossed  the 
Mississippi  from  the  west,  but  their  domiciliation  there  as  a  tribe  was  recent.  Their 
first  movement  from  the  Delaware  River  towards  the  west  appears  to  have  been 
within  fifty  years  of  Penn's  landing.  We  find  by  the  manuscript  journal  of  Conrad 
Weiser  that  he  reported  the  numbor  of  Delawares  in  the  Ohio  Valley  in  1748  at  one 
hundred  and  sixty-five  warrioi-s,  which,  agreeably  to  the  usual  rate  of  computation, 
would  give  eight  hundred  souls.  Going  back  from  this  date  to  the  French  tables 
of  1730,  it  appears  that  there  were  no  Delawares  in  the  West  at  that  time.  So  that 
it  is  in  a  period  of  twelve  years,  from  173G  to  1748,  that  they  must  have  arrived 
from  the  esist  of  the  Alleghaniea.  Yet  within  sixteen  years  from  this  time,  Colonel 
Boucpiet  estimates  them  ius  capable  of  bringing  five  hundred  warriors  into  the  field, — 
a  manifest  exaggeration. 

Once  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  the  Delawares,  at  least  the  body  of  the  tribe,  do 
not  appear  to  have  adhered  with  much  tendcity  to  the  excellent  teachings  they  had 
received  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  and  the  Susquehanna.  The  labors  of  the 
plough,  the  loom,  and  the  anvil  do  not  possess  much  attraction  for  a  tribe  where  it 
has  (juit  the  precincts  of  civilization  and  come  under  the  exciting  influences  of  war 
and  hunting.  After  a  few  years  they  iook  shelter  on  the  Whitewater  River  of 
Indiana,  but,  findiiii,  themselvet  pressed  l.y  the  intrusive  feet  of  a  raj)idly  gathering 
civili/ed  population,  ceded  their  I'lnds  t!icre,  and  in  1829  went  to  Kansas.  Thence 
they  removed  to  the  Indian  Territory,  their  present  home,  where  they  have  dwindled 
to  a  more  handful.  In  18(52  the  Delawares  enlisted  one  hundred  and  seventy-two 
men  for  the  Union  army,  out  of  a  poj)ulation  of  two  hundred  males  between  the 
ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five.  They  officered  their  own  companies,  and  were  good 
soldiers,  tractable,  sober,  watchful,  and  obedient.  By  a  treaty  blunder,  only  eighty- 
one  remain  called  Delawares,  the  residue  of  the  tribe  in  the  Indian  Territory  having 
been  inc()rjM)ratc'd  with  tiie  Chcrokocs.  The.se  latter  show  in  their  habits  of  dissipa- 
tion and  unthrift  the  debasing  effects  of  the  process  of  removal  of  which  they  have 
been  the  victims  for  two  generations. 

The  history  of  the  Delawares  has  little  to  distinguish  it,  in  the  principles  of 
action,  from  that  of  the  other  tribes.  The  West  had  l)een  regarded  in  their  tradi- 
tions as  tlie  paradise  of  hunters,  and  when  they  were  disturbed  by  the  footsteps  of 
the  white  men  tln^y  fled  in  that  direction.  Evidences  that  the  pressure  they  felt  in 
the  Ka.st  would  follow  them  a  long  time  in  the  West  are  found  in  the  j)ermission  to 
settle  in  Upper  Louisiana,  granted  by  CJovernor  (-aroudelet,  on  the  4th  of  January, 
1793.  In  a  treaty  conchuK-d  at  Fort  I'itt  in  1778  (the  first  treaty  made  by  the 
United  States  with  any  Indian  nation),  they  entered  into  relations  of  amity  with  the 


mm 


THE   TRIBES. 


281 


United  States,  granted  power  to  march  armies  through  their  country  and  procure 
supplies,  in  return  for  which  it  was  stipuhited  that  a  fort  shouhl  be  built  for  the 
protection  of  their  women  and  children  against  the  hostile  tribes.  This  was  the 
origin  of  Fort  Mcintosh.  This  alliance  was  effected  seven  years  before  the  Iroquois 
succumbed  at  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix.  How  well  the  treaty  was  kept  by  the 
nation  at  large  appears  from  the  supplementary  articles  of  the  treaty  of  Fort  Mcin- 
tosh of  21st  January,  1785,  in  which  it  is  agreed  by  them  that  Kelelimand  and  other 
chiefs  who  liad  taken  up  the  hatchet  for  the  United  States  should  participate  in 
uU  the  beneficent  provisions  of  the  treaty.  Their  good  faith  is  further  shown  by 
the  treaty  of  Fort  Harmar  of  the  Uth  of  January,  1789,  in  which  they  renew  cer- 
tain unfulfilled  conditions  of  the  prior  treaty,  and  agree  to  deliver  uji  all  American 
prisoners  in  their  hands.  Michigan,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Pennsylvania,  all  are  largely 
made  up  of  the  lands  which  by  the  treaty  of  Fort  Mcintosh  were  given  to  the 
Indians. 

It  will  be  suflicient  to  state  the  commencement  of  our  intercourse  with  this  tribe. 
To  continue  the  record  of  these  negotiations  from  era  to  era  would  only  exhibit  dry 
details  of  facts,  similar  in  their  general  aspect  to  the  changes  in  residence  and  muta- 
tions of  time  and  place  which  have  attended  the  transfer  of  most  of  the  tribes  from 
(he  Atlantic  borders  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi.  There  is  much  resemblance  in 
the  princi])les  and  general  incidents  of  these  removes.  One  generic  truth  applies  to 
all.  The  tribes  were  perpetually  at  war  or  variance  with  one  another.  They  had 
not  elevation  of  mind  enough  to  appreciate  one  another's  motives,  principles,  senti- 
ments, or  character.  The  suspicion  they  had  of  their  chiefs,  priests,  and  warrioi-s 
kej)t  them  in  continual  dread.  They  believed  in  witchcraft  and  necromancy,  which 
could  be  exercised  on  all,  present  or  absent.  Treacherous  themselves  in  point  of 
fealty,  they  expected  treachery  from  neighboring  tribes.  Good  motives  were  ascribed 
to  bad  actions  with  a  plausibility  which  would  have  done  credit  to  a  Talleyrand  or  a 
JMctternich.  Tarlie  wiis  burned  at  the  stake  under  the  accusation  of  witchcraft,  but 
really  to  take  him  out  of  the  way  of  Elkswattawa  and  Tecumseh. 

The  history  of  the  tribes  agreed  also  in  this :  each  remove  involved  the  loss  of 
something  in  civilization  which  they  had  attained.  By  throwing  them  into  new 
regions  of  wilderness  it  exposed  them  to  new  temptations  in  the  line  of  hunting,  and 
rivalry  for  distinction  in  the  war-path.  Thus,  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Dela- 
wares,  when  they  had  reached  Missouri  and  the  Indian  territory  west  of  it,  went  into 
Texas,  where  they  have  the  reputation  of  being  first-rate  guides,  huntei"s,  woodsmen, 
and,  if  necessity  call  for  it,  warriors.  All  the  tribes  felt  sensibly  the  effects  of  the 
failure  of  game  on  their  lands,  as  they  pursued  their  line  of  migration  west,  and 
would  have  suffered  miserably  had  it  not  been  for  the  increased  demand  for  their 
refuse  hunting-lands.  Acres  took  the  place  of  beaver-skins.  But  while  this  gave 
tliem,  at  least  periodically,  a  plethora  of  means,  it  exposed  them  to  the  influence  of 
indulgence.  The  Indian  who  had  lost  the  industry  of  hunting  had  no  other  occu- 
pation. It  wa«  noble  to  hunt,  but  mean  to  labor.  And  when  he  found  that  his 
lands  could  be  s])eedily  turned  into  money,  in  the  shape  of  annuities,  he  fell  into  the 


282 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


snare  of  luxury.  The  hunter  and  nonuulic  Indiiin  has  but  little  idea  of  the  value  of 
raonev  or  silver  coin ;  he  a|)peai"s  to  regard  it  lus  something  to  get  rid  of,  and  often 
deals  it  out  lavishly  to  those  who  have  little  or  no  claim  upon  him.  The  luimbcr  of 
the  Delawares  iu  1850  vma  estimated  at  iifteen  hundred.  It  has  since  that  time 
greatly  decreased. 

BLACK FEET. 

The  Saskatchewan  River  of  Lake  Winnipeg  rises  in  the  Rocky  Mountiiins  in 
north  latitude  about  52°.  Retween  its  great  southern  and  northern  forks,  in  a  fertile 
game  country,  are  found  the  Recaneaux,  Rlackfect,  and  Rlood  Indians.  These 
tribes  constitute  a  group  which  is  dillerent  from  their  neighbors,  those  on  the  lower 
parts  of  the  river  s])eaking  a  language  akin  to  that  of  the  Assiniboinos,  who  are 
Dakotas,  or  of  the  Kenistenos,  who  are  Algonkins.  Traders  and  interpreters  of 
the  region  jirouounce  it  })eculiar.  Mackenzie  informs  us  that  their  track  of  migra- 
tion has  been  vwards  the  northwest,  and  he  exi)reHse8  the  opinion  that  they  have 
a  "language  of  their  own."  From  a  vo(;abulary  exhibited  to  Mr.  Gallatin,  he  was 
indincil  to  consitler  it  as  referable  to  the  Algonkin  family,  and  he  has  so  classifled  it 
in  his  "(Synopsis  of  Tribes." 

However  these  tribes  may  difi'er  from  their  neighbors  and  the  rest  of  the  Indian 
stocks,  they  agree  with  them  in  their  hostility  to  one  another,  and  in  their  continuous 
broils  and  disputes.  These  i)er])etually  recurring  disturbances  finally  led  to  a  general 
feuil,  in  which  they  separated  into  two  parties,  the  one  distinguished  by  the  red  or 
bloody  Hag,  and  the  other,  from  reverence  to  a  noted  leader  who  had  fallen,  by  the 
black  Hag.  The  younger  and  more  warlike  warriors  generally  ranged  themselves 
under  the  red  banner,  the  more  elderly  and  setlate  under  the  black  ensign.  After 
numerous  skirmishes  and  endeavors  to  entrap  each  other,  a  great  battle  was  finally 
fought,  in  which  the  party  of  the  red  Hag  triumphed.  This  led  to  a  final  separation. 
The  party  of  tiie  black  Hag  lied  towards  the  scmth.  Continuing  on  in  this  direction, 
they  reached  tiie  l)auks  of  tlu;  Missouri.  This  ilight  appears  to  have  taken  place 
in  the  autunui,  after  tlie  prairies  had  been  burned  over,  and  when  the  black  ashes  of 
the  grass  and  shrubbery  colored  their  moccasins  and  leggings.  In  this  plight  they 
were  iirst  met  by  the  Upsaroka  or  Crow  Indians,  who  called  them  Rlackfeet.  The 
term  was  adopted  by  the  CJros  Ventres  and  the  Mandans,  aiul  soon  spread  among 
all  the  tril)es.  They  had  extended  their  hunting-  and  war-parties  to  the  head-watoi-s 
of  the  liver  Maria's,  and  never  proceeded  farther  east  than  Milk  River,  a  stream 
falling  into  the  Missouri  on  the  west,  about  one  hundred  and  fitlty  miles  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Yellowstone. 

Ry  this  Ilight  they  had  found  a  new  country,  abounding  in  every  requisite  of  In- 
dian life.  Rut  they  had  not  left  behind  them  that  sj)irit  of  internal  dissension  and 
discord  which  had  j)roduced  the  split  on  the  Saskatchewan.  A  new  feud  arose  among 
the  Missouri  Rlackfeet,  which  resulted  in  another  division  of  the  tribe,  under  an 
ambitious  leader  ca  'ed  l'iegan,or  the  I'heasant.  After  several  defeat.s,  he  was  driven 
across  the  Missouri,  ami    took   shelter    in  the  mountains.      The  three   recognized 


TUE  TRIBES. 


283 


^i 


(livisioas  of  the  tribe  are,  therefore,  in  tlie  order  of  their  orgiinization,  the  Bloods,  the 
Bhiekfeet,  and  the  Pii'gana.  They  Huilbred  nuieh  from  the  ravages  of  Hiuallpox, 
which  Hwept  tlirough  the  Miasouri  Valley  in  1837. 

The  character  of  the  Blackfect  nation  haa  been  perhaps  underrated  on  account 
of  oecurrencea  which  took  place  in  1805,  during  the  celebrated  expedition  of  Lewia 
and  Clarke.     They  are  deaeribed  by  later  observera  as  having  more  decision  and 
iixity  in  their  camp  regulationa,  or  laws  and  customs,  than  other  tribea  on  tlie  Mis- 
souri, but  not  as  more  cruel  or  blood-thirsty.     Like  all  prairie  tribes,  they  wander 
over  the  plains,  following  the  buffah),  and  having  no  permanent  location.     Priding 
themselves  on  great  courage,  they  bring  up  their  youths  to  follow  in  their  footstejia. 
As  soon  as  a  young  man  ia  capable  of  drawing  the  bow  he  enlista  under  the  wolf- 
akin  banner  of  some  ambitious  chief,  and  takes  his  first  lesson  in  war.     To  bring 
back  the  scalp  of  an  enemy  is  the  great  object  of  ambition,  and  this  alone  settles  the 
youth's  position  and  character  in  the  lodge  circle  and  at  the  festive  and  council 
l)()ard.     The  tribe  holds  itself  up  as  surpassing  all  others  on  the  war-path.     They 
disdain  alliances  with  any  of  the  other  tribes,  and  bid  defiance  to  them  all.     Their 
enemies  on  the  Missouri  are  the  Dakotas,  the  (Jros  Ventres,  and  the  Crows.     But 
they  push  their  hostile  excursions  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  (juest  of  the  Indian 
horses  of  Oregon,  where  they  fight  the  Flatheads,  the  Pends  d'Oreilles,  and  the  Nez 
Perec's.      They  endure  the  extremes  of  savage  life  with  stoicism.     They  never  com- 
plain under  hunger  or  suffering.    The  jn-airie  is  their  spontaneous  garden.    It  yields 
them  roots  and  medicines.     They  cultivate  nothing.     They  have  abundance  of  food 
when  game  is  plenty,  and  starve  when  it  is  scarce.     The  only  enterprise  in  which 
they  engage,  besides  war  and  the  chase,  is  horse-stealing ;  and  this,  too,  is  considered 
an  honorable  achievement,  and  a  source  of  great  distinction  for  the  young,  the  brave, 
and  the  active.     Human  scalps  are  their  glory,  and  the  buP'ilo  their  reliance.    They 
are  the  most  perfect  specimens  of  savage  life  found  on  the  continent. 

Accustomed  from  infancy  to  bear  pain,  they  soon  become  sui)erior  to  the  dangers 
of  fear :  forest  precepts  and  practices  never  cease  to  j)recede  or  follow  one  another ; 
and  however  they  may  fail  in  their  enterprises,  they  at  once  flatter  themselves  with 
the  hope  of  better  success  in  the  future.  They  are  as  sly  as  a  fox,  possess  the  agility 
of  a  deer,  the  eyes  of  a  lynx,  and  the  uuconcpu^-able  ferocity  of  a  tiger. 

They  are  generally  well  proportioned,  tall,  and  straight,  and  there  is  seldom  a 
deformed  person  among  them.  Their  skin  is  of  a  reddish  or  copper  color,  their  eyes 
large  and  black,  their  hair  coal-black  and  straight  and  very  seldom  curly ;  they 
have  very  good  teeth,  and  their  breath  is  jus  pure  as  the  air  they  inhale.  The  bones 
of  the  cheeks  are  a  little  high,  particularly  so  in  the  women.  The  latter  are  not  so 
tall  as  the  European  females,  although  there  are  often  agreeable  and  pretty  figures 
among  them  ;  they  incline  more  towards  fatness  than  does  the  other  sex. 

When  the  fenuile  seats  herself,  she  })laees  her  limbs  decently,  both  knees  together, 
iiiul  turns  her  feet  sideways  ;  but  that  posture  cramps  her  limbs,  and  is  one  reason 
tliat  she  walks  badly,  so  that  she  seems  to  be  hune.  The  men  take  little  notice  of 
domestic  affairs:  indolent  from  pride  and  custom,  they  not  only  leave  the  women  to 


llin.      »•     '': 


284 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


do  all  tlio  home  work,  but  often  send  them  after  the  meat  of  the  game  they  have 
killed,  although  Hometimcs  it  may  bo  at  a  great  distance.  The  women  place  their 
children,  as  aoou  as  born,  on  a  piece  of  hooped  board  stuffed  with  grass.  The  child 
is  laid  on  its  back  on  a  cradle  of  this  kind,  and  enveloped  with  pieces  of  skin  or 
cloth  to  keep  it  warm.  Tiiis  forest-cradle  is  tied  with  pieces  of  leather  bands ;  to 
these  the  mother  tics  other  straps  to  suspend  the  cradle  from  her  head,  or  to  hung  it 
to  the  limb  of  a  tree,  while  she  does  the  necessary  work  of  the  lodge. 

This  tribe,  which  now  numbers  seven  thousand  live  hundred,  has  a  large  reserva- 
tion on  the  northern  boundary  of  Montana,  about  seventy-five  miles  from  Fort 
I3enton.  The  severe  punishment  inflicted  in  1870  by  the  military  ("  The  Piegan 
Massacre")  broke  down  their  hostility,  and  they  have  latterly  shown  an  inclination 
for  such  pursuits  ius  would  prepare  them  for  the  change  from  hunting  buffalo  and 
other  game  to  the  cuUivation  of  the  .soil.  The  inadccpiacy  of  the  ajipropriation  for 
their  support  compels  them  to  continue  to  hunt,  but  each  succeeding  year  finds  an 
additional  number  employed  in  building  and  farming. 


CIIIPPEWAS. 

This  term  is  derived  from  Ojibwa,  the  cognomen  of  the  tribe  for  themselves, 
whose  meaning  has  not  been  satisfactorily  explained.  Mackenzie  uses  the  term  Jibwa 
as  the  c(piivalent  of  this  term  in  his  "Voyages."  The  name  of  the  tribe  is  not  to  be 
found  in  the  older  writers.  The  French,  who  were  the  earliest  to  meet  them  in  their 
tribal  seat  at  the  falls,  or  iSault  de  Ste.  Marie,  named  them  Saulteurs  from  this  circum- 
stance.  They  are  referred  to,  with  little  difference  in  the  orthography,  in  General 
AVashington's  report,  in  1754,  of  his  trip  to  Le  Bojuf,  on  Lake  Erie,  but  arc  first 
recognized  among  our  treaty-tribes  in  the  general  treaty  of  Greenville,  of  1795,  in 
which,  vith  the  Ottawas,  they  ceded  the  island  of  Michilimackinac  and  certain 
dependencies  conceded  by  them  at  former  2)eriods  to  the  French.'  The  Chi])pewas 
are  acknowledged  by  writers  on  American  philology  to  speak  one  of  the  j)ure8t 
forms  of  the  Algonkin,  and  may  be  regarded  as  identical  with  the  Algonkin  group 
in  history,  manners,  and  customs. 

History  is  clear  as  to  the  unity  of  origin  of  the  Algonkina  and  the  Chippewas, 
while  it  fails  to  inform  us  when  or  why  the  latter  term  was  adopted.  The  Nipis- 
singos,  also  written  Nipissiriniens,  form  the  btusis  of  both.  This  was  a  terra  applied 
to  the  peoi)le  who  lived  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Nej)issing,  at  the  source  of  French 
Kiver.  This  lake,  lying  on  summit-lands,  occupies  the  line  of  the  portage  betwwn 
Lake  Huron  and  the  great  Ottawa  River  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  wius  the  channel 
of  Cijinmunication  and  the  route  for  the  transportation  of  merchandise  from  Mon- 
treal to  the  Great  Lak(!  basins,  and  to  the  uttermost  regions  of  the  sources  of  the 
Missisaipi)i  and  the  trading-posts  (»f  Hudson's  ]3ay.    It  avoided  altogether  the  hostile 

'  Tliis  grunt  beciiiiii!  tlic  basin  of  the  cession  luado  by  tbeiu  ut  Suult  8to.  Mariu  in  the  treaty  of  Juno 
16,  1820.     (luJiun  Treaties,  p.  28U.) 


THE   TRIBES. 


285 


Iroquois  country  by  the  route  of  Niagara,  and  wua  at  the  Hatno  time  much  tlie  nearest 
route. 

In  fixing  on  early  points  of  movement  of  the  Indian  tribew  of  the  North,  it  is  of 
primary  importance  to  refer  to  tlie  period  of  1(541).  It  was  in  tliis  year  tliat  the 
Iroquois  finally  succeeded  in  overthrowing  the  Wyandots,  whom  tlie  French  called 
Ilurons,  and  driving  them  out  of  the  lower  St.  Lawrencie.  The  latter  fied  up  the  Ot- 
tnwa  to  what  is  now  known  as  Lake  Huron.  Here  they  finally  settled,  after  having 
been  pursued  by  the  infuriated  Inxjuois  to  their  refuge  on  the  island  of  Miehili- 
mackiiuic,  and  even  to  the  upper  shores  of  Lake  Superior.  Their  ilight  carried  with 
them  their  allies  the  Atawawas  or  Atowas,  and  other  Algonkin  bands,  who  had  been 
in  close  alliance  with  them. 

A  more  particular  reference  to  the  events  of  this  period,  as  detailed  by  missionary 
writers,  may  be  made. 

Le  Jeune  and  the  early  writers  of  "  Lettres  Edifiants"  inform  us  that  at  the  earliest 
known  period  there  was  a  group  of  tril)es  living  in  the  northern  latitudes  of  the 
(Jreat  Lakes  who  called  God  Manito,  the  res'L  ui  their  vocabulary  answering  to  this 
test  and  showing  them  to  lie  of  one  family  or  mother-stock.  The  most  ancient  point 
to  which  they  refer  as  the  place  of  their  origin  is  the  summit  of  Lake  Nepisaing, 
north  of  Lake  Huron, — a  summit  which  shed  its  waters  easterly  through  the  Ot- 
tawa lliver  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  southwardly  through  French  River  into 
Lake  Huron.  Long  l)efore  Canada  was  settled  this  wiis  the  ancient  Indian  route  of 
travel  between  the  valley  of  the  I^ower  St.  Lawrence  and  the  great  area  of  the 
Upper  Lakes.  It  was  not  only  the  shortest  line,  but  it  avoided  the  numerous  cas- 
(uules  and  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence  above  Montreal,  which  I'ppearcd  so  formidable 
to  Cartier  in  ISIM,  as  well  tis  the  j)ortage  at  Niagara.  Besides  these  groat  advantages 
in  point  of  time  and  distance,  it  was  entirely  within  the  territory  of  the  tribe ;  and 
altliongh  its  course  was  broken  by  numerous  rapids,  these  were  ea.sily  overcome 
by  short  portages,  which  permitted  the  boatmen  to  transport  their  light  canoes 
by  hand.  This  wjis  the  route  which  the  Indian  trade  from  New  France  first  took 
and  long  maintained,  even  from  the  period  of  Chanii)lain  down  to  the  el(>se  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  Northwest  Company,  about  1820.  After  this  time  all  the  main 
supplies  of  goods  and  merchandise  were  8hii)ped  direct  from  England  into  Hud- 
son's Bay. 

To  the  i)eople  who  were  early  found  on  this  summit,  and  who  had  migrated  down 
the  Ottawa  into  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley,  occupying  its  north  bank  between  Mon- 
treal and  Quebec,  the  French  at  first  ai)plied  the  name  Algonkii  'ibis  became  a 
generic  name  for  all  the  bands  and  tribes  of  the  same  language  whom  they  subse- 
quently discovered  on  the  continent,  however  widely  dispersetl  from  their  summit 
home,  and  by  whatever  tribal  or  local  names  they  were  called  by  themselves  or  by 
other  tril)es.  The  French,  indeed,  nuiltiplied  these  local  names  by  applying  to 
each  of  the  new-found  bands  a  nom  de  (jucrre,  so  that  they  might  lull  the  active 
suspicions  of  the  natives  by  making  no  apparent  reference  to  them  in  conversation. 
To  such  of  this  people  as  had  migrated  down  the  French  River  to  Lake  Huron, 


'*»S.. 


ii' 

ill 

i 

11 


1» 
u  ■ 


si 


'280 


77/ A'  INDIAN   TltlUES  OF  TtlK   UN  IT  HI)  UTATJ-JS. 


and  along  itw  nortli  BlioroH  to  tlio  AUHHinnagiiig  or  llig-Moutlicd  River,  they  f»avu  tlio 
l(  rill  of  jMLssissiigii's.  Tlicsc  at  a  later  day  migrated  eiwtwardly  to  the  head  of  Lake 
Ontario  and  the  vaUey  ot"  tiio  river  Niagara  heh)W  the  Itidge,  where,  aeeording  to 
Indian  tradition,  tiiey  were  in  liondH  of  elone  ailiaiiee  witii  the  Iro<|iioiH,  and  aided 
lliein  in  exterminating  the  Wyandot^  iruni  thu  territory  in  Canada,  which  id  utill 
oeeiipied  in  part  l)y  tlie  3IiH.siMHagies. 

To  thoKtf  of  the  Algonivin  or  Nipereinean  type  who  had  prior  to  the  dineovcry 
proceeded  northwest  through  tlie  Straits  uf  Ht.  Mary  into  the  hiwin  of  Lake  Superior 
an*l  to  the  eountries  north  of  it,  they  simply  gave  the  name  of  Saulteur,  or  Falls- 
men.  These  three  local  tribi's,  that  is  to  say,  the  Nipercineans,  or  Algonkins  proper, 
till'  Mississagies,  and  the  Sanltenrs,  or  ()jil)was,  were  originally  one  and  the  samo 
people.     They  spoke,  and  they  still  speak,  the  same  language. 

It  would  he  easy  to  pursue  this  ethnographical  chain,  giving  names,  boundaries, 
and  events  which  mark  the  multiplication  of  the  numerous  North  American  family 
of  the  Algonkiii  tribes.  Hut  it  is  unnecessary  for  the  puri)ose  in  hand.  It  will  be 
suHieient  to  say  that  the  new  names  given  by  their  enemies,  often  in  derision,  or 
assumed  by  themselves,  contain  no  evidence  whatever  of  their  national  genealogy. 
To  a  particular  branch  of  those  who  distinguished  themselves  during  their  residence 
in  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley,  and  afterwards  in  Lake  Huron,  they  applied  the  name 
of  Traders,  or  Odawas,  denoting  a  falling-oil'  in  tbe  habitw  of  the  jjure  hunters  and 
warriors,  or  a  probable  industrial  trait,  which  ia  yet  strikingly  observable  in  the 
desceiuhints  of  that  band.  To  another,  and  one  of  the  latest  multiplications  of  the 
tribe,  they  gave  the  name  of  Pottawatomies,  or  Fire-Makers,  that  is  to  say,  a  people 
who  arc  building  their  own  council-fire,  or  betting  up  a  separate  government.  To 
another  they  gave  the  name  of  Kenistenos,  or  Killers,  on  account  of  the  sanguinary 
character  of  the  war  which  they  maintained  northwest  of  Lake  Superior.  This 
l)eople  the  French  call  Crees.  Another  branch,  who  sul)sisted  on  wild  rice  in  the 
interior  or  rice-lake  region,  between  Lakes  Superior  ami  VViiiiiebago,  they  culled 
Menomonics,  or  Wild-Kice  Men.  The  bands  north  of  Lake  Nepissing,  extending 
to  Hudson's  IJay  and  Lake  Abbitibbi,  they  called  I'eojile  ot  tlie  Swamps  and  Low 
Cirounds,  or  Muskigoes.  Others  of  the  same  latitude,  but  more  westerly  in  longitude, 
they  called  Nopemiiigs,  or  Inlanders,  named  by  the  French  Gens  den  terrca.  The 
Sagiiiaws  are  so  called  from  Saiik-i-nong,  Saiiktown,  from  the  Sauk  tribe  who  lived 
in  Michigan  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

To  a  band  of  energetic  warriors  who  went  to  Leech  Lake,  on  the  sources  of  the 
Mississipjii,  but  who  at  a  subse(juent  period  plundered  the  boats  of  a  leading  trader 
while  lying  at  the  mouth  of  the  Crow- Wing  River,  they  gave  the  name;  of  Mukkuiid- 
Wius,  or  Pillagers,  literally  Takers.  This  summary  penalty  was  inflicted  upon  the 
trader  for  his  temerity  in  disobeying  the  commanders  of  the  fierce  barbarians,  who 
had  forbidden  him  to  sell  arms  and  ammunition  to  their  enemies  the  Sioux.  All 
the  local  tribes  above  named,  although  tlisperscd  at  various  and  tlistant  points,  call 
themselves  ( )-jib-was. 

The  Miainis,  Wea.s,  and  Piankcshaws,  the  Sues  and  Foxes,  Kaskjuskiius,  Peorias 


-  I 


77/A;   TRl/ifJS. 


287 


s,  I'uoriii.s 


and  KickiiiHMiH,  the  SIiiiwiuth,  Muiiwch,  Sti)('kltri(lj;cH,  niul  Moliiciuis,  toj^ctlicr  witli 
Ht'Vcnil  tiilx's  nut  hero  niuiicd,  (■(Histitiitt!  nnotlicr  cIukh  or,  nunc  prKpcrly,  Hiilt-gcmw 
of  tin'  iNi|KM('iii(!un  or  Algonkin  typo,  tlio  (liitu  of  wIiohci  Hcpiiration,  liowuvcr,  from 
(licir  prt'Hoiit  Htoc^k,  wlu'tlicr  timt  wiw  tlui  iinnicdiatL'  Algoiikiu  or  tlie  remoter  Ii('iiii|Mf 
liniiu'li,  Ih  Hlutwa  l)y  dialectic  evidenccH  to  have  i)eeii  more  remot-;;  wliile  at  tlie  name 
time  the  Htroii;^  alliuitieH  of  hingiiaf^e,  and  itn  aiwohito  aj^reoment  in  granimaticul 
forniH,  are  not  U-hh  certain  proofn  of  a  common  origin. 

It  in  Hcen  from  tiie  text  of  Kliot'H  trannhition  of  the  IJilde  into  the  Natick  or  Mas- 
HachnwettH  hinj;iia}!;(',  in  llie  year  l(i(il,  that  tiie  lanijiinj;*!  \w  einpioyH,  nn  well  as  that 
of  the  Narraganwett,  an  given  in  lloger  Williams's  key,  jh  like\vis«(  of  the  Algonkin 
type;  while  the  plirasen  endxulied  in  the  early  history  of  Virginia,  and  the  still- 
existing  names  of  prominent  streams  of  the  Virginia  coast,  denote  the  ancient  exten- 
sion of  this  generic  form  of  speech  far  along  the  Atlantic  borders. 

The  parent  language,  varying  lus  it  progressed,  appears  to  have  been  i)ropngated 
from  the  south  and  siaithweHt  to  the  Virginia,  the  Chesapeake,  and  the  Pennsyl- 
vania coast;  and  it  was  thence  dellectcd  oil",  nudtiplying  in  dialects  exceedingly, 
towards  the  east  and  northeast,  along  the  North  Atlantic ;  and  tinally  it  extended 
northwest  up  the  Ht.  Ijawrence  Valley  into  the  region  of  the  Lakes.  All  the  Amer- 
ican tribes  appear  to  have  migrated  trlbally  in  sniiill  bodies,  abiding  for  periods  at  ii 
place  until  the  pressure  of  popidation,  want,  or  feinls  jmshed  them  farther, — a  result 
which  may  be  supposed  to  have  given  great  scope  for  the  multiplication  of  new  triix-s 
and  the  formation  of  new  dialoetH,  by  which  the  jmrent  language  of  each  triln)  was 
more  and  more  shorn  of  its  verbal  integrity,  while  its  grammar  or  plan  of  utterance 
essentially  remained.     This  result  is  indicated  by  language. 

These  preliminary  remarks  denote  the  position,  geographically  and  ethnologically, 
in  which  the  nuMh'rn  Chippewas,  or  Algonkin  Chijipewas  of  Lake  Superior,  stand  in 
relation  to  the  other  mend)ers  of  the  general  group,  and  their  alwolute  identity  of 
origin  with  the  Nij)ercincans,  or  the  old  Algonkins  of  1(»()<S,  this  being  the  assumed 
period  of  the  discovery  of  Canada.  The  Chippewas  of  the  Lakw  occupy  now  the 
gi-neral  district  of  country  which  was  ascribed  to  the  old  Algonkins  of  the  Ht.  Law- 
rence, and  to  the  Atawius  and  Nipercineaiis,  or  natives  of  Lake  Nepissing.  They 
formerly  ranged  over  most  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota,  and  were  con- 
stantly at  war  with  the  Dakotas  and  other  neighboring  tribes.  They  sided  with  the 
IJritish  in  tlu?  Revolution  and  in  the  war  of  1.S12. 

It  was  with  this  stock  of  people  that  the  French  formed  an  early  and  unbroken 
alliance.  They  ascribed  to  them  in  ancient  periods  a  degree  of  progress  superior  to 
that  of  any  other  tribe  iidiabiting  the  northern  latitudes.  They  learned  their  lan- 
guage, which  they  f(«ind  easy  and  copious,  and  by  the  aid  of  which  their  traders  and 
missionaries  could  juMietiate  to  the  farthest  points  in  tin;  early  admired  countriiw  of 
the  Illinois,  the  Lakes,  and  the  farthest  Mississippi.  They  call  it  pa)'  exccUcnre  the 
court  language  of  the  aborigines,  and  they  spread  abroad  the  praises  of  the  people 
thnMigluMit  Europe.  Nor  were  these  vain  praises.  The  fur-trade,  which  immediately 
on  the  settlement  of  Canada   started   into  activity,  was  by  far  the   most  lucrative 


If 


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^  I. 


288 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


brand:  of  their  commerce ;  and  they  relied  on  the  far-reaching  and  numerous  group 
of  the  Algonkins  not  only  as  active  hunters,  bat  !is  their  best  and  only  efficient  local 
allies  in  th'.ir  wars  against  the  English  colonista  and  the  Iroquois,  the  latter  of  whom 
carried  desolation  in  1G87  to  their  very  firesides  at  Montreal.  The  grasp  with  which 
the  French  took  hold  of  the  Algonkins  was  therefore  a  firm  grasp,  cemented  by 
interest  as  well  as  friendship ;  and  it  was  soon  perpetuated  by  the  more  enduring  ties 
of  intermarriage  with  the  native  females. 

In  their  wars  with  tlij  British,  the  Ojibwas  I  ok  active  part  with  the  French,  and 
numbers  of  their  warriors,  headed  by  their  chief  Ma-mong-e-se-da,  were  present  at 
the  battle  and  fall  of  Quebec,  where  the  two  great  captains  Wolfe  and  Montcalm 
fell. 

The  OjibAvas  also  joined  the  league  of  their  relptive  the  great  Ottawa  chief 
Poiitiac,  and  were  mainly  ii.stiumental  at  the  taking  of  Fort  JVIackinac,  through  the 
stratagem  of  ]<layiiig  ball  for  the  annisenient  of  the  fated  garrison. 

Chippewa  tradition  relates  that  they  came  from  the  east.  They  call  the  north- 
west wind  Ke-wa-din-oong,  or  the  home-blowing  wind.  They  claim  to  have 
descended  a  large  stream  and  visited  the  ocean,  where  they  first  descried  the  signs  of 
white  men.  They  speak  of  old  wars  with  the  Mungwas  and  other  tribes.  They 
refer  to  Chcgoimegon,  on  Lake  Superior,  and  Poiwateeg,  on  the  Straits  of  St.  Mary's, 
as  ancient  sites  ai)'.l  seats  of  central  powen  Tluy  represent  themselves  as  having 
been  under  the  government  of  a  Mudjeckewis, — a  magistrate  ruling  by  descent  of 
l)looil.  Some  traditions  state  that  they  kej)t  an  eternal  fire  burning  at  Chegoimegoii. 
Formerly,  they  say,  their  huiguage  wiis  sj)oken  with  greater  piirity,  and  their  lives 
and  niatniers  were  less  barl)arous.  Relations  and  reniini: -'enees  of  this  kind  are  not, 
perha»s,  peculiar  to  this  tribe.  J'li;*  Lenape  also  spoke  of  a  golden  age  in  their 
history.  The  InHpiois  trace  theniselves  to  Atahentsic,  the  queen  of  heaven.  The 
Ij  !  wares  dwell  nnich  on  their  ancient  glories.  The  Chippewas  trace  the  mother  of 
Manabozho,  their  great  mytholdgieal  creation,  to  the  moon.  This  is  very  difl'erent 
from  tlie  predatory  (Xsiges,  who  aseriln'  tiieir  origin  to  a  humble  shell.  There  arc? 
few  tril)es  who  do  not  attempt  to  solace  themselves  by  remini.^cenees,  which  are  some 
compensation  to  i\w  mind  for  their  lass  of  consecpience  in  the  circle  of  tribes,  or  the 
actual  miseries  by  which  they  ant  surrounded. 

In  the  traditionary  emigration  of  the  tribe  from  the  east,  a  portion  of  them 
moved  in  the  directicm  of  the  north  of  Lake  Superior,  and  are  now  known  jus  the 
iMuskegoes  and  Sug-waun-dug-ali-win-iiie-wug,  or  "Thick  Woodsmen."  Other 
j)ortions  of  the  tril)e  stopped  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  one  of  the  oldest  towns  mentioned 
in  tiieir  traditions. 

In  the  Straits  of  "  Me-she-ni-miel  -in-aiik-ong,"  or  "Great  Turtle,"  they  parted 
fr,)m  their  ri'latioiis  the;  Ottawa  and  I*o-da-waud-um-eeg.  With  these  two  triltes, 
together  willi  the  0-dish-(piiig-um-ceg,  or  Algonkins,  tliey  to  this  day  claim  the 
closest  allinit}'. 

The  Six  Nations,  whom  they  denominate  Nod-o-way-se-wug,  from  Nod-o-way, 
"The  Adder,"  ajijK'ar  l(»  have  l»een  their  most   inveterate  foes.     Having  been  lirst 


THE  TRIBES. 


289 


discovored  by  the  whites,  and  armed  with  guns,  this  confederation  succeeded  in 
driving  west  the  remnant  of  the  Ojibwx  tribes  that  had  remained  behind  their 
main  body,  who  were  at  this  era  already  living  on  I^ake  Superior,  With  them  went 
the  Wyandot,  Po-da-wand-um-ee,  Ottiiwa,  and  O-dish-quag-umee. 

The  old  men  of  the  Ojibwas  claim  that  before  this  took  i)lace  the  main  body 
of  their  tribe  had  already  found  their  way  to  Lake  Superior,  and  were  living  at  La 
Pointe. 

Aoandoning  the  periods  of  Indian  cosmogony  and  fable,  few  of  the  tribes  possess 
any  historical  or  legendary  records  of  real  value.  The  Chippewa  traditions,  such  as 
nuiy  be  relied  on,  reach  back  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The  Chippewas 
aver  that  their  first  knowledge  of  white  men  was  of  the  French  in  Lower  Canada, 
whose  rule  they  regard  with  admiration.  In  1824  they  asserted  tl.at  but  seven  gen- 
erations had  passed  since  the  event.  Their  reminiscences  are  still  fresh  of  the  fall 
of  Canada,  of  the  great  chief  Montcalm,  of  the  stand  made  by  Pontiac  to  repel  the 
IJritish  at  Detroit,  and  of  the  massacre  at  old  Fort  Michilimackinac  on  the  Peninsula. 
Among  men  who  have  successfully  led  them  in  battle,  they  mentioa  Noka,  Bianswali, 
and  Waub-Ojeeg,  or  the  White  Fisher,  under  the  last-named  of  whom  they  con- 
(piered  the  region  of  the  St.  Croix  Valley,  and  defeated  the  Sauks,  Foxes,  and  Sioux. 
Ondaigweos  of  Cliegoimegon,  and  Shingabawassin  of  St.  Mary's,  were  men  of  wisdom 
and  benevolence,  whose  memory  is  respected. 

It  is  the  glory  of  their  remote  past,  however,  which  is  the  favorite  theme  of 
Chijipewa  vanity  and  credulity. 

'J'lie  Chippewa.s  are  an  active,  well-developed,  handsome  race  of  men,  usually 
above  the  medium  height.  The  chiefs  of  the  bands  of  St.  Mary's,  Lake  Superior, 
and  the  Ui)prr  Mississippi  arc  a  manly,  intelligent  body  of  men,  with  a  bold  and 
itidependeut  air  and  gait,  and  possessing  good  powers  of  oratory.  Stately  and  easy 
in  their  manners,  they  enter  and  leave  a  room  without  the  least  awkwardness  or 
I'lnbarnussinent.  But  for  their  very  picturesque  costume,  with  its  frontlets,  medals, 
ami  feathers,  they  might  easily  be  taken  for  the  grave  elders  and  gentlemen  of  civil- 
ized sociely.  Their  marked  repose  of  character  and  ease  of  manners  cannot  fail  to 
strike  the  l)eholder;  but  it  is  still  mor"  remarkable  to  hoar  one  of  these  noble  men 
ol'  nature,  when  he  rises  to  speak,  fall  into  a  train  of  elevated  remarks  which  would 
often  do  honor  to  a  i)hiIosopher.  At  the  same  time  that  he  is  thus  maintaining  a 
|iri(le  of  character  in  the  council-chamber,  his  family,  who  perhaps  oceu})y  a  wigwam 
on  the  shore,  may  be  without  a  loaf  of  bread  or  a  ■  iece  of  meat  to  ai)pease  their 
hunger. 

The  traditionary  account  of  the  extermination  -f  the  Mundua  tribe  by  the  Chip- 
pewas, many  hundred  years  ago,  may  be  introduced  here  as  throwing  some  light 
(111  the  (piestion  concerning  the  lost  tribe  of  Eries.  According  to  this  tradition,  as 
related  by  a  chieftain  of  Sandy  Lake,  there  was  at  one  time,  living  on  the  shores  of 
a  large  lake,  a  grand  and  jiowerful  trilie  of  ])e(i|ile  calknl  Munduas.  They  were 
congregated  in  a  single  (own,  wliieli  was  so  large  that  one  standing  on  a  hill  in  the 
eentre  could  not  see  the  Iimit8  of  it.     The  i\Iunduas  were  lieree  and  warlike:  their 


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290 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


hand  was  against  every  other  tribe.  Their  jirisoners  they  burned  at  the  stake  as 
oll'erings  to  their  spirits.  All  the  surrounding  tribes  lived  in  great  fear  of  them,  till 
their  Ojibwa  brethren  called  them  to  council,  and  sent  the  wampum  of  war  to  collect 
the  warriors  of  many  tribes  together.  A  war-j)arty  was  raised  whose  line  of  warriors 
extended  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  They  marched  against  the  great  town  of  the 
Munduas,  and  attacked  it  on  all  sides  that  w(ire  approachable  by  land.  Though  the 
numbers  of  their  assailants  were  overwhelming,  the  Munduiis  had  such  confidence  in 
their  own  prowess  and  numerical  strength  that  on  the  first  day  of  attack  they  sent 
only  their  boys  to  repel  the  invaders.  The  boys  being  driven  in,  on  the  second  day 
they  turned  out  their  young  men  to  fight  their  foes,  while  the  rest  of  the  town  were 
feasting  and  dancing.  Still,  however,  the  Ojibwas  and  their  allies  gradually  beat 
them  back,  till  on  t'le  eve  of  the  second  day's  fight  the  invaders  found  themselves 
in  possession  of  half  the  great  town.  The  third  day  dawned,  and,  the  Munduas 
beginning  to  think  it  a  serious  affair,  their  old  and  tried  warriore,  "  mighty  men  of 
valor,"  sang  their  war-song,  put  on  their  paints  and  ornaments  of  Avar,  and  sallied 
out  to  drive  back  the  foe. 

The  struggle  which  ensued  was  one  of  the  most  desperate  recorded  in  Indian 
tradition :  the  bravest  warriors  in  America  had  met,  one  side  fighting  for  vengeance 
and  renowii,  the  other  for  everything  that  is  dear  to  man,  even  their  very  existence. 
The  Munduas  at  last  gave  way,  and,  hotly'  pressed  by  their  foes,  men,  women,  and 
children  threw  themselves  into  the  lake.  At  this  juncture  their  aged  chief  (who 
was  also  a  medicine-man),  seeing  the  dead  bodies  of  his  bravest  warriors  covering 
the  ground,  called  with  a  loud  voice  for  the  assistance  of  the  Great  Spirit.  No 
answer  being  made  to  his  ])rayer,  he  then  invoked  the  evil  8])irits  of  earth  and 
water,  when  suddenly  there  arose  from  the  bosom  of  the  lake  a  dark  and  heavy  fog, 
which  covered  in  folds  of  darkness  the  scene  of  the  bloody  fight. 

The  old  chief  gathered  togetlic  tlie  remnants  of  his  slaughtered  tribe,  and,  under 
cover  of  the  evil  spirits'  fog,  tL.  j  left  their  town  forever.  For  a  day  and  a  night 
they  travelled  onward,  anil  were  congratulating  themselves  on  their  escape,  when  a 
gale  of  wind  that  the  medicine-men  of  the  Ojibwiw  had  caused  the  Great  Spirit  to 
raise  dispersed  the  fog,  and  great  was  the  surprise  of  the  Mundujus  at  finding  them- 
selves standing  on  a  hill  back  of  tlu'ir  devoted  town,  and  in  full  view  of  their 
enemies.  "  It  is  the  will  of  the  Great  Sjjirit  that  we  should  perish,"  exclaimed  the 
aged  chief,  and  once  more  they  dragged  their  weary  limbs  in  fiight.  They  fied  into 
a  forest,  where  thev  buried  their  women  and  chihiren  in  tlie  ground,  leaving  them 
but  a  brcatliing-holc.  The  men  tlicn  rclurned,and  beguiled  the  pursuers  by  leading 
tiiem  in  a  dilViTeut  direction.  A  few  escaped,  wh(»  alti-rwards  returned  and  dug  ujt 
their  women  and  children.  This  small  remnant  of  the  once  powerful  Munduas  was 
the  next  year  attacked  ltyan<)jil>wa  war-party,  taken  prisoners,  and  incorporated 
into  their  tril)e.  Individuals  are  pointed  out  to  this  day  as  descended  from  them, 
who  have  the  marten  totem. 

We  will  now  relate  events  which  happened  a  few  years  pri(tr  to  the  actpiaintanco 
of  the  Chippewas  with  the  whites.     The  exact  lime,  huwi'ver,  is  utieerlain. 


TUE  TRIBES. 


291 


One  prominent  reason  why  the  Ojibwaa  chose  to  live  on  an  island  is  evident: 
tliey  wished  for  more  security  from  their  numerous  foes.  The  Nodowa  war-i«irties 
did  not  here  reach  them,  as  tliey  came  no  fartlier  than  tlie  Sault  at  the  foot  of  the 
hike.  But  they  had  as  powerful  and  inveterate  enemies  in  the  Odug-aum-eeg  and 
the  A-boin-ug,  upon  whose  territory  they  were  constantly  encroaching. 

The  Odug-aum-eeg  occupied  a  country  towards  the  southwest,  about  the  head- 
waters of  the  Wisconsin,  '^)ntonagon,  and  Chippewa  Rivers.  The  Sioux  lived  about 
the  head-waters  of  the  St.  Croix,  Mississippi,  and  St.  Louis  Rivers.  Sandy  Lake, 
]\lille  Lacs,  and  Yellow  Lake  were  then  the  sites  of  their  principal  towns. 

A  tribe  called  0-man-ee  is  also  sj^oken  of  as  one  of  their  earliest  enemies.  They 
are  said  to  have  lived  at  Mille  Lacs  in  earthen  house- ,  and  to  have  been  exter- 
minated or  driven  ofl'  in  a  general  battle. 

The  Ojibwas  were  most  harassed  by  the  Odug-aum-eeg  and  A-boin-ug,  or  Sioux 
and  Foxes.  The  shores  of  Lake  Superior  were  familiar  to  the  war-parties  of  these 
two  warlike  tribes.  At  one  time  a  war-party  of  Sioux  found  their  way  from  the 
nearest  point  of  the  mainland  to  the  island  of  La  Pointe,  and  during  the  night  two 
of  their  warriors  crossed  on  a  log  a  distance  of  two  miles,  and  returned  in  u  canoe 
with  four  scalps  they  had  taken  on  the  island. 

On  another  occasion  a  party  of  four  hundred  Foxes  lloated  down  the  Ontonagon 
in  their  small  inland  bark  canoes.  They  landed  in  the  night  on  the  island  of  their 
foes,  and  early  in  the  morning  captured  four  women  who  had  gone  to  gather  wood. 
The  revenge  of  the  Ojibwas  was  (juick  and  complete.  A  dense  fog  covered  the  lake, 
and,  depending  on  this  for  eventual  escape,  the  Foxes,  intoxicated  with  their  success, 
kept  up  a  continual  yelling  and  singing.  Thus  gui'Ird,  tlie  Ojibwas,  many  hun- 
dreds of  whom  had  at  the  llrst  sound  hastily  enil)ark(il  in  their  liii<;u  lake-canoes, 
silently  and  swiftly  pursued  them,  keeping  pun  dy  in  their  wake,  till  they  arrived 
opposite  a  line  of  steep  rocky  coast,  a  mile  al)o\r  iln  mouth  of  ^lontreal  River,  ami 
eight  leagues  from  La  Pointe.  Here  they  fell  on  t!ie  Foxes  wiili  gr(  at  fury.  Tin  ii 
own  large  canoes  sat  lirmly  in  the  water,  while  the  small  ■  oes  of  the  Foxes  were 
vi\A\y  upset,  and  most  of  the  marauding  party  Averc  either  drowned  or  disjiatohed 
in  the  water.     This  is  the  only  naval  engagement  the  old  men  of  this  (rilte  tell  of. 

At  another  time  a  party  of  Foxes  fell  on  a  camp  of  Ojibwas  at  Kah-puk-wa-1  i 
while  the  men  were  out  hunting.  They  captured  two  youths,  having  driven  them 
into  boggy  ground.  One  of  these  prisoners  was  the  son  of  a  principal  <  'jibwa  chief 
named  lii-ans-wah,  belonging  to  the  Ah-awh-wauk  family.  At  the  time  the  capture 
was  made,  the  father  of  the  young  man  was  out  on  a  hunt.  Returning  Iioiim',  he 
heard  the  heart-rending  news,  and,  knowing  that  his  son's  fate  would  be  the  .ike, 
he  immediately  followed  the  trail  of  the  returning  captors.  Arriving  at  on  i  their 
principal  villages  just  as  the  Foxes  were  in  the  act  of  setting  lire  to  the  tiigots  with 
which  they  had  surround'jd  their  victim,  he  stei)pcd  boldly  into  the  midst  of  his 
enemies,  and  ollered  to  take  the  place  of  his  son.  "My  son,"  said  he,  "  has  seen  but 
a  few  winters;  his  feet  have  never  trodden  the  war-path:  but  the  hairs  of  my  head 
lire  white,  and  over  the  graves  of  my  relatives  1  have  hung  many  scalps  that  1  have 


Ii 


292 


TUB  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  TUE   UNITED  STATES. 


taken  from  the  heads  of  your  warriors."  The  okl  chief's  offer  wtis  accej)ted :  his  son 
was  released,  and  he  himself  was  burnt  at  the  stake  with  all  the  tortures  that  savage 
ingenuity  could  invent.  The  son  returned  to  his  people,  and  was  afterwards  known 
by  his  father's  nauio,  and  became  a  noted  man  in  his  tribe. 

The  old  chieftain's  murder  was  terribly  avenged  by  the  Ojibwa  tribe.  A  large 
war-party  marched  against  the  towns  of  the  Foxes  on  the  Chippewa  River,  and  did 
not  return  until  six  villages  of  their  enemies  had  been  laid  waste,  and  their  inhab- 
itants destroyctl.  After  this  event  the  Fox  tribe  retired  from  the  country  bordering 
on  Lake  Superior,  and  foil  back  on  the  Mississippi. 

The  war  between  the  two  tribes  was  bloody  in  the  extreme,  and  was  carried  on 
with  all  the  cruelty  of  savage  warfare.  Captives  were  burnt  at  the  stake.  This 
custom  originated  in  the  following  manner.  A  noted  warrior  of  the  Ojibwas  was 
once  taken  caj)tive  by  his  own  nephew,  a  son  of  his  sister,  who  had  been  captured  by 
the  Foxes  and  had  married  among  them.  The  nephew,  to  show  his  adopted  people 
his  utter  disregard  of  any  tie  of  relationship  with  the  Ojibwas,  planted  two  stakes  in 
the  ground,  and,  taking  his  captive  by  the  arm,  tied  his  feet  and  hands  to  the  stakes, 
remarking  "  that  he  wished  to  warm  his  uncle  by  a  good  fire."  He  then  built  up  a 
large  fire,  and  after  roasting  one  side  of  his  victim  he  turned  the  other  to  the  blaze. 
AVhen  the  naked  body  had  been  burnt  to  a  blister,  he  untied  him,  and  told  him  "  to 
go  home  and  tell  tlie  Ojibwa.s  how  the  Foxes  treated  their  uncles."  The  uncle 
recovered  from  his  fire-wounds,  and  in  a  subsec^jjut  incursion  succeeded  in  capturing 
his  nephew.  He  took  him  to  the  village  of  'J\o  Ojibwjut,  where  he  tied  him  to  a  stake, 
and,  taking  a  fresh  elk-skin,  on  which  a  layer  of  fat  had  purposely  been  left,  he 
placed  it  over  a  lire  until  it  became  one  immense  blaze,  and  then,  throwing  it  over 
the  naked  shoulders  of  his  nephew,  i'cmarked,  "  Nephew,  when  I  was  in  your  village 
you  warmcil  me  before  a  good  fire;  now  I,  in  return,  give  you  a  mantle  to  warm  your 
back."  The  elk-skin,  covered  with  fat,  burnt  furiously,  and,  crisping,  lighted  around 
the  body  of  his  nephew  a  dreadful  mantle  that  soon  consumed  him.  This  act  was 
retaliated  by  the  Foxes,  and  death  by  lire  soon  became  customary  with  both  tribes. 

Soon  after  their  lake-figlit  with  this  tribe,  a  war-party  of  Sioux,  numbering  one 
hundred  ami  fifty  men,  found  their  way  to  the  extreme  j)oint  of  Shag-ah-waum-ik, 
directly  opDosite  the  present  town  of  La  Pointe,  and  one  mile  distant.  Here  they 
lay  in  wait,  and  one  morning  attacked  two  ymmg  nun  who  had  gone  to  the  point  to 
look  for  ducks.  The  spot  being  covered  in  those  daw  \\  ith  sand-hills,  the  young  men 
defended  themselves  till  the  village  oj)posite  becanu'  alarmed,  and  tiie  (Jjibwa  war- 
riors, quickly  collecting,  ran  to  the  southern  extremity  of  their  town,  embarked  in 
their  canoes  at  (iooseberry  Creek,  and  paddled  straight  across  to  the  little  portage,  a 
place  where  Shag-ah-waum-ik  is  but  a  few  rods  wide.  Once  the  Ojibwas  had  gained 
j)Ossession  of  this  spot,  the  Sioux  would  be  entirely  cut  off  from  retreat.  The  van 
of  both  parties  arrived  there  at  the  same  moment,  and  a  desperate  fight  ensued. 
The  Sioux  were  driven  back,  however,  and,  l)eiiig  caught  as  it  were  in  a  trap,  were 
cut  to  pieces.  Two  men  only  are  said  to  have  escaped.  They  s  am  into  the  lake, 
antl,  as  their  bodies  were  not  found,  it  was  su]>posed  that  they  ]•(  li'ormed  the  almost 


THE  TRIBES. 


293 


Buperliuman  feat  of  swimming  three  or  four  miles  in  fresh  water.  Tlie  particles  of 
bones  still  strewn  over  the  whole  point  are  said  to  be  the  remains  of  the  slain 
warriors. 

The  encounters  which  are  here  briefly  mentioned  are  related  by  the  old  men  with 
great  minuteness.  As  they  took  place  before  their  intercourse  with  the  whites,  the 
Indians  fought  with  their  primitive  weapons, — spears,  bows  and  arrows,  and  war- 
clubs. 

"We  now  come  to  the  period  when  the  white  man  first  became  known  to  them. 
The  traditionary  story  of  this  important  event  in  their  history  is  briefly  as  follows : 

A  principal  man  of  the  Medawin,  named  Ma-so-wa-pe-ga,  dreamed  a  dream,  in 
which  he  beheld  spirits  in  the  shape  of  men,  but  having  white  skins,  and  coverings 
on  their  heads.  They  approached  him  with  a  smile  on  their  faces  and  with  their 
hands  extended. 

This  dream  he  told  to  the  principal  men  of  his  tribe  in  a  council  and  over  a  feast 
in  honor  of  his  dream-spirit.  He  informed  them  that  the  spirits  he  had  seen  in  his 
dream  resided  in  the  east,  and  that  he  would  go  and  find  them. 

For  one  year  Ma-se-wa-])e-ga  prepared  for  his  journey.  He  made  a  strong 
canoe,  and  dried  meat  for  his  wappo,  and,  with  only  his  wife  as  a  companion,  left  La 
Pointe  to  go  and  find  the  spirits  he  had  seen  in  his  dream.  He  went  down  the 
Great  Lake,  and  entered  a  river  that  flowed  towards  the  rising  of  the  sun.  He 
pa.ssed  through  tribes  of  red  men  that  spoke  different  languages. 

At  last,  when  the  river  had  become  wide  and  like  a  lake,  he  found  on  the  banks, 
one  night  as  he  encamped,  a  hut  built  of  logs,  and  the  stumps  of  large  trees  that  had 
been  cut  by  other  and  sharper  instruments  than  the  rude  axes  of  the  Indians. 

The  signs  thus  discovered  were  a])parently  two  winters  old. 

Much  encouraged,  Ma-se-wa-j)e-ga  continued  his  course  down  stream,  and  the 
next  day  came  to  another  deserted  log  hut. 

The  third  day  he  saw  another  log  hut,  from  the  chimney  of  which  smoke  arose. 
It  was  occupied  by  the  white  si)irits  of  his  dream,  who  came  out  and  cordially  wel- 
comed him  with  a  shake  of  the  hand. 

When  he  returned  to  his  people  he  brought  the  presents  he  had  received, — an 
axe,  a  knife,  beads,  and  some  scarlet  cloth, — which  he  had  carefully  secured  in  his 
niodicine-bag. 

Collecting  his  people  in  council,  he  showed  them  the  sacred  jiresents  of  the  white 
spirits. 

Tiie  next  season  numbers  followed  Ma-se-wa-pe-ga  on  his  second  visit  to  the 
whites.  They  carried  with  them  many  beaver-skins,  and  returned  with  the  fircarn>s 
tiiat  henceforth  made  them  the  terror  of  their  enemies. 

From  this  time  the  dispersion  of  the  tribe  from  La  Pointe  can  be  dated.  The 
Indians  say  it  occurred  eight  generations  or  "strings  of  lives"  ago,  which,  estimating 
an  Indian  generation  at  thirty-five  years,  would  make  two  hundred  .md  eighty  years. 

This  dispersion  is  said  to  have  beou  owing  to  tlie  fidlowing  causes. 

Poisoning  was  a  common  mode  of  revenging  an  injury,  anil  it  required  but  the 


( I  n-. 


294 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


slightest  cause  for  a  person  to  draw  down  upon  himself  the  displeasure  of  a  medicine- 
man, and  die  of  his  poison.  Instances  have  occurred  where  the  poisoners  were  known 
to  have  dug  up  their  victims  and  invited  the  relatives  to  a  feast  on  the  body.  This 
horrid  ceremony  was  got  up  in  utter  darkness,  and,  when  the  friends  of  the  deceased 
had  received  their  share  of  the  feast,  torches  were  suddenly  lighted,  and  they  became 
aware  of  the  nature  of  the  banquet.  Fear  of  the  poisoner's  power  and  vengeance 
would  constrain  them  to  eat  what  was  placed  before  them.  This  was  a  usual  sacrificial 
feast  to  the  spirit  of  the  poison. 

At  this  period  the  tribe  lived  in  great  awe  of  their  medicine-men,  the  fear  of 
whom  has  not  even  yet  quite  died  away.  It  is  also  affirmed  that  it  was  customary 
to  offer  to  their  different  Me-da-we  spirits  human  sacrifices  of  one  another  and  of 
their  children.  This  sacrifice  is  said  to  have  been  made  at  the  roots  of  a  huge  pine- 
tree  which  stood  somewhere  in  the  centre  of  the  island,  and  which  reared  its  branches 
far  above  other  trees. 

The  virgin  feast  of  human  flesh,  which  we  sometimes  hear  spoken  of,  and  read 
of,  was  also  in  full  practice;  and  there  was  an  old  woman  alive  at  La  Pointe  a  few 
years  sincti  who  could  tell  tales  on  this  head,  from  her  own  experience,  that  would 
make  the  blood  ru:i  cold. 

To  such  an  extent  were  these  evil  practices  carried  that  at  last  fear  fell  on  the 
inhabitants  of  La  Pointe  ;  the  weeping  and  wailing  oi  je-bi-ug,  or  ghosts,  was  heard 
nightly  resounding  through  their  town,  till  finally  they  fled,  and  a  general  dispersion 
took  place,  which  left  their  island  entirely  deserted. 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  before  traders  made  their  residence  on  the  island, 
none  of  the  Indians,  it  is  said,  would  dare  to  sleep  overnight  on  the  site  of  their  old 
town,  for  fear  of  the  je-bi-ug. 

The  first  traders  that  built  on  the  island,  during  the  old  French  domination, 
found  their  gardens  overgrown  with  many  years'  growth  of  trees,  and  it  is  compara- 
tively lately  that  the  band  living  on  the  opposite  bay  of  Shag-ah-waum-ik  returned 
to  live  on  the  island. 

When  hard  pressed  by  their  enemies,  or  in  time  of  great  famine,  such  a  practice 
as  the  eating  of  human  flesh  might  have  Ijcen  adopted  to  save  life,  as  it  occasionally 
is  even  at  the  present  time  among  the  Indians  north  of  Lake  Superior.  Thin, 
together  with  the  fact  of  their  poisoning  one  another,  might  have  given  rise  to  the 
above  story,  and  might  have  conduced  in  some  measure  to  their  dispersion,  which  1 
am  inclined  to  believe  took  place  naturally  as  they  prevailed  against  their  enemiis 
and  became  possessed  of  a  larger  extent  of  country. 

After  this,  being  aware  of  the  white  man's  presence  on  the  continent,  the  next 
occurrence  of  importiince  was  the  taking  of  the  Sioux  village  of  Sandy  Lake,  on  the 
Mississippi. 

Bi-ans-wah,  the  young  man  whose  father  had  died  for  him  at  the  stake,  became  a 
fierce  and  inveterate  enemy  of  the  Sioux  and  Foxes,  tjiking  every  opportunity,  aiul 
indeed  making  it  the  business  of  his  life,  to  revenge  the  death  of  his  brave  father. 
With  a  large  band  uf  his  tribe  he  pushed  on  up  the  lake,  and  made  a  stand  at  Fond 


THE  TRIBES. 


295 


du  Lac  (Wi-a-quah-ke-che-gum-e).  At  this  point  Bi-ans-wah  collected  a  largo 
•war-party  from  the  different  villages  of  the  Ojibwas  on  the  lake-shore,  at  the  head 
of  which  he  proceeded  up  the  St.  Louis  and  successfully  attacked  the  then  large 
Sioux  town  of  Sandy  Lake.  They  destroyed  numbers  of  their  enemies,  and  drove 
them  forever  from  the  lake.  Here  Bi-ans-wah  and  his  band  eventually  made  their 
abiding-place  and  village.  It  is  at  this  point  that  the  Ojibwas,  in  their  western 
conquests,  first  came  on  to  the  Mississippi.  They  made  this  their  central  point  and 
rallying-place,  where  parties  collected  who  marched  against  the  Sioux  and  wrested 
from  them  Leech,  Cass,  Winnipeg,  Mille  Lacs,  and  Red  Lakes.  The  different  bands 
now  living  about  the  head-waters  of  the  Mississippi  radiated  from  this  point. 

Bi-ans-wah,  besides  his  deeds  in  war,  is  noted  as  having  put  a  stop  to  the  inhuman 
custom  of  burning  prisoners.  This  he  effected  by  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Sioux, 
and  though  the  peace  was  soon  after  broken,  yet  both  parties  mutually  refrained  from 
the  practice.  From  this  time  prisoners  were  seldom  taken,  and  those  taken  were 
never  burnt. 

Besides  the  large  band  that  pushed  their  way  to  the  head-waters  of  the  great 
river,  other  bands  left  the  lake-shore,  and  made  their  towns  at  Courtoreille,  Lac  du 
Flambeau,  and  on  the  St.  Croix  River,  conquering  the  country  as  they  advanced  at 
the  expense  of  much  bloodshed. 

One  morning  a  party  of  young  men,  going  out  from  the  Bay  of  Shag-ah-waum-ik 
to  spear  fish  through  the  ice  in  the  early  part  of  the  winter,  discovered  smoke  arising 
from  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  then  unfrequented  island  of  their  old  town.  La 
Pointe.  They  proceeded  thither,  and  in  a  rude  cabin  made  of  logs  found  two  white 
men  in  the  last  stages  of  starvation.  They  had  evidently  been  driven  on  the  island 
by  ice  late  in  the  fall,  and  had  remained  there  for  some  time  suffering  the  pangs  of 
hunger.  When  discovered,  they  had  been  reduced  to  the  extremity  of  roasting  their 
cloth  and  blankets  over  the  coals,  and  eating  them  as  a  last  means  of  sustaining  life. 
The  Indians  carefully  conveyed  them  to  their  village,  and  fed  them  with  judicious 
kindness.  One  of  them  survived,  and,  after  remaining  with  his  hosts  through  the 
winter,  returned  to  Quebec,  whence  he  had  come. 

The  above  story  is  invariably  given  by  the  old  men  of  La  Pointe  on  being  asked 
the  question,  "  Who  was  the  first  white  man  that  found  the  Indians  at  La  Pointe 
after  they  were  known  to  be  on  the  continent  ?" 

The  events  narrated  happened  seven  "  strings  of  lives"  ago. 
Of  Fathers  Marquette  and  Allouez,  who,  according  to  Mr.  Bancroft's  statement, 
found  their  way  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  years  ago  to  the  Bay  of  Shag-ah- 
wiuim-ik  and  there  opened  a  mission  among  a  large  band  of  Indians,  there  is  no 
traditionary  record,  unless,  indeed,  they  were  the  two  men  mentioned  in  the  above 
story.  An  antique  silver  crucifix  was,  in  1847,  found  by  an  old  woman  in  her 
garden,  near  La  Pointe,  where  it  had  been  ploughed  up.  This  circumstance  would 
seem  to  prove  that  the  fearless  and  enterprising  Jesuits  had  been  of  old  about  the 

8])0t. 

The  first  white  men  who  made  a  permanent  residence  among  them  were  traders. 


Ms 


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296 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


During  the  old  French  dontination,  n  poHt  wiih  built  on  Ihc  IhIiuuI  of  La  Pointc,  at 
tlio  mouth  of  11  crock  or  nlough  between  the  present  witc  of  the  American  Fur  Com- 
pany's j)OMt  and  the  Presbyterian  mission.  The  buildings  were  surrounded  by  pali- 
sadcs  of  cedar,  and  cannon  arc  said  to  have  been  mounted  on  them. 

It  had  be(!onio  customary  during  the  French  domituition  for  the  Ojibwas  of  Luko 
Superior  to  make  yearly  visits  to  Mackinac,  Montreal,  and  even  Quebec.  They 
were  well  treated  by  the  French,  who  even  at  this  time  had  begun  to  intcrnuirry  with 
them,  and  had  thus  formed  a  link  that  made  them  ever  atlcr  their  fast  friends. 

After  the  concpiest  of  Canada  by  the  British,  the  different  French  truding-posts 
were  dismantled,  and  but  few  of  the  old  French  traders  and  voyagers  rennuned  in 
Lake  Sui)erior.  Among  these  they  Lr.ention  Ke-che-sub-ud-ese,  or  John  Baptist 
t/adotte,  who  was  in  the  vicinity  at  the  taking  of  Fort  Mackinac  and  the  massacre  of 
the  garrison  by  the  Ojibwas  and  Ottuwiw.  It  wius  this  man's  Indian  wife  who  is  said 
to  have  saved  the  life  of  Alexander  Henry,  the  only  Englislunan  that  survived  the 
massacre.' 

Cadottc  and  his  partner,  Ilenry,  were  the  first  traders  who  came  into  the  country 
of  the  Ojibwas  after  the  full  of  the  Fn^nch.  They  wintered  two  years  at  Na-ash-ib- 
ik-ong,  a  point  of  sand-rock  in  the  Bay  of  Shag-ah-waum-ik,  and  for  two  years  are 
said  to  have  worked  the  mines  of  coj)per  on  th(!  Ontonagon  Itiver. 

Cadotte  wius  the  first  perunment  white, settler  on  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  where  he 
died  at  an  advanced  age,  leaving  a  family  of  children  and  grandchildren,  hulf- 
breeds,  spread  over  the  whole  Ojibwa  country. 

It  was  about  the  period  of  the  taking  of  Fort  Mackinac  that  the  last  figlit  between 
the  Ojibwius  and  Inxpiois  is  said  to  have  taken  place.  The  8te.  Marie  Indians  inoh- 
ably  know  more  of  this  occurrence  than  old  Bc-she-ke  of  La  Pointc,  who  related  it. 
As  the  story  goes,  a  war-j)arty  of  Ojibwas  were  collected  to  march  into  the  Nod-o-wa 
country  in  search  of  scalps.  Kncamping  a  short  distJince  below  the  ra]>id8  of  Ste. 
Alarie,  they  heard  yelling,  singing,  and  other  noises  on  the  river  below  them,  and, 
sending  out  scouts,  they  soon  learned  that  they  proceeded  from  a  party  of  Nod-o- 
ways  bound  on  a  war-excursion  into  their  country.  The  enemy  had  also  encamped, 
and  were  making  merry  on  li(juor  stolen  probably  from  white  tradei-s.  The  Ojibwas, 
waiting  until  they  had  drunk  themselves  lusleep,  fell  on  them,  and  nearly  destroyed 
the  whole  i)arty.  The  spot,  from  this  circumstance,  was  named  Point  Iro<piois. 
This  is  the  la.st  war-party  tliat  the  Nodoways  are  said  to  have  sent  against  the  Lake 
Superior  Ojibwas. 

Some  years  afterwards  a  man  arose  among  the  Ojibwiw  of  La  Pointc  who  Iwcame 
a  renowned  war-leader,  and  successfully  took  up  the  (piarrels  of  his  tribe  with  the 
Sioux  and  Foxes.  Waub-ojeeg,  or  White  Fisher,  of  the  reindeer  totem,  wa.s  the  son 
of  Ma-mong-e-se-da,  the  chief  that  led  the  Ojibwa  warriors  under  Montcalm  at  the 
taking  of  Quebec.     He  was  by  blood  partly  of  Sioux  extraction,  being  related  to 


'  Bc'sidoH  Henry,  two  other  Eiij;lisliiiu'n,  nanii'd  SoImuDiis  luiil  ('lurk,  csciipcd.    One  crept  up  n  chimney, 
tho  otlier  hid  liiiiiself  under  ii  lioap  of  corn.     Two  offieer.i  and  ten  men  were  uIho  saved. 


THE   TRIBES. 


297 


old  Wabashaw,  clnof  of  a  band  of  Mou-da-wak-an-ton  Sioux,  living  at  the  foot  of 
Lako  Popin. 

Wlicn  arrived  at  the  ago  of  maturity  lio  collected  a  wur-party  of  three  hundred 
warriors,  and  floated  down  the  St.  Croix  Ilivcr  at  their  head,  into  the  country  of 
their  cneniica.  At  the  mouth  of  Snake  Kiver  they  were  to  meet  a  party  collected 
from  Mille  Lacs  and  Sandy  Luke  to  join  them  on  their  war-excurHion.  Not  finding 
the  party  m  expected,  Waub-ojeeg,  confident  in  his  numlwrs,  pursued  his  way  down- 
stream, leaving  marks  by  which  the  other  party  would  be  guided. 

Arriving  early  in  the  morning  at  the  head  of  the  portage  that  leads  around  the 
Falls  of  St.  Croix,  the  men  had  already  lifted  their  light  canoes  on  their  heads  to 
carry  across  llie  portage,  when  the  scouta  came  in  with  news  that  a  large  body  of 
Sioux  and  Foxes  were  landing  at  the  foot  of  the  portage.  The  Ojibwas  put  on  their 
war-paints  and  ornaments,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  portage  they  met  their  enemies, 
who  were  bound  on  the  same  errand  as  themselves.  The  combined  Sioux  and  Fox 
warriors  were  much  more  numerous  than  the  OjibwoH,  so  much  so  that  it  is  said  that 
the  Foxes  requested  the  Sioux  to  stand  by  and  see  how  easily  they  could  rout  the 
Ojibwas.  The  Sioux  therefore  stood  or  sat  on  the  rocks  at  a  distance,  quietly 
smoking  their  pipes.  The  fight  is  said  to  have  been  fierce  and  liardly  contested. 
About  noon  the  Foxes  commenced  to  give  ground,  having  lost  some  of  their  leading 
men.  At  last  they  turned  and  fairly  fled,  the  Ojibwiis  after  them.  They  would 
l)robably  have  been  driven  into  the  water  and  killed  to  a  man,  had  not  the  Sioux, 
eager  and  fresh  for  a  fight,  raised  their  war-whoop  und  rushed  to  the  rescue  of  their 
(lefeateil  allies.  The  Ojibwas  resisted  their  new  enemies  munfully,  and  it  was  not  till 
their  ammunition  had  failed  that  they,  in  turn,  showed  their  backs  in  fiight.  Few 
would  have  escaped  to  tell  the  sad  tale  of  their  defeat  had  not  the  party  from  Sandy 
Lake  who  were  to  have  met  them  at  Snake  River  arrived  just  at  this  juncture  at  the 
head  of  the  portage.  Seeing  their  friends  driven  over  the  rocks  into  the  water,  they 
jumped  out  of  their  canoes,  and  sixty  warriors,  fresh  for  the  contest,  withstood  the 
onset  of  the  Sioux  and  Foxes  till  their  friends  rallieil  again  to  the  fight. 

The  allied  Sioux  and  Foxes,  being  out  of  ammunition,  are  said  to  have  fled  in 
their  turn.  The  slaughter  wu.s  great.  Many  were  driven  over  the  steep  rocks  into 
the  boiling  rapids  below,  and  every  crevic(!  in  the  rocks  conUiined  a  dead  or  wounded 
warrior.  From  this  time  the  Foxes  retired  south,  and  gave  up  the  contest  with  their 
victorious  enctmies. 

Waub-ojeeg,  who  commanded  the  Lake  Superior  bands  in  this  battle,  often  after- 
wards led  his  warriors  with  great  success  against  the  Sioux,  and  became  noted  for  his 
l)nivery  and  wisdom.  His  influence  was  that  of  a  master-spirit  over  his  whole  tribe. 
He  is  one  of  those  whom  the  Ojibwa  of  the  j)reHent  day  names  with  pride. 

Bi-ans-wah  and  Waub-ojeeg  fought  for  their  people  and  for  conquests,  Ma- 
mong-e-se-da  for  the  French.  Ondaigweos,  another  chief,  contemporaneous  with 
Waub-ojeeg,  was  noted  for  his  peaceable  disposition  and  his  unwavering  friend- 
ship for  the  whites.  lie  was  a  chief  of  the  Ah-awh-wauk  stock,  and  had  great 
iulluenci!  with  his  people,  who  in  those  days  were  wild  and  untamable.     They 

38 


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298 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


required  a  strong  hand  to  check  their  propensity  for  pillaging  white  traders,  to 
whom  Ondaigwcoa  was  as  a  guardian  spirit.  He  waa  the  grandfather  of  the  late 
chief  Be-she-ke  of  La  Pointc. 

We  will  now  return  to  the  northern  wing  of  the  tribe,  who,  under  their  chief 
Bi-ans-wah,  had  pushed  their  way  to  Sandy  Lake.  From  this  place,  as  we  have 
said,  they  hariused  the  Sioux  till  they  drove  them  from  Leech,  Cass,  Winnipeg, 
Mille  Lacs,  and  lied  Lakes.  The  country  surrounding  these  lakes,  in  every  way 
adapted  to  their  mode  of  living, — abounding  in  game,  wild  rice,  maple  to  make 
sugar,  and  birch-bark  for  canoes, — was  occupied  by  detached  bands  of  the  Ojibwas. 
Tliey  lived  in  fear  and  trembling,  and  at  first  located  themselves  for  safety  on  islands 
in  the  different  lakes. 

From  the  time  when  they  first  conquered  these  places,  now  over  a  century  ago, 
not  a  year  has  passed  but  their  blood  has  been  spilled  in  their  defence;  not- 
withstanding which  they  have  held  on,  unyielding  and  tenacious,  till  they  have  com- 
pelled their  enemies  to  retire  west  of  the  St.  Peter's  and  Ked  Itiver  of  the  North, 
and  south  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Peter's. 

Their  hunts  are  made  altogether  on  the  hunting-grounds  of  the  Sioux,  and  it 
wiu?  a  common  boiust  of  their  late  war-chief,  ilole-in-the-day,  Bug-on-a-ke-shig,  that 
had  not  the  white  man  interfered,  and  at  the  treaty  of  Prairie-du-Chien  drawn  the 
lines  between  them,  his  people  would  now  be  dwelling  at  St.  Peter's. 

Tlic  bands  now  living  around  the  head-waters  of  the  Mississippi  occupy  a  country 
embraced  within  tlie  area  of  four  hundred  miles  north  and  south,  and  two  hundred 
east  and  west,  from  Mille  Lacs  to  Pembina,  and  from  Sandy  Lake  to  the  Red  Itiver 
of  the  North. 

On  the  tract  of  country  they  occupy  many  spots  are  pointed  out  where  the  war- 
riors of  the,se  two  contending  tribes  have  met  in  battle.  More  fights,  mttssacres,  and 
surprises  are  told  of  than  would,  if  detailed,  fill  a  large  book.  In  this  condensed 
account,  however,  we  shall  notice  only  their  principal  battles. 

A  few  years  after  the  smoke  of  the  Ojibwa  lodges  had  first  arisen  from  Sandy 
Lake,  one  of  tlii'ir  war-parties  met  a  i)arfy  of  their  enemies,  the  Sioux,  on  a  })oint  in 
Lake  Winnipeg,  where  a  considerable  fight  ensued,  which  resulted  in  the  evacuation 
of  the  lake  by  the  Sioux. 

More  than  a  century  ago,  a.s  nearly  as  we  can  compute  from  Indian  time,  a  party 
of  about  three  luindnHl  Sioux  warriors  ascended  the  Mississippi  in  their  canoes,  went 
up  the  Crow-Wing,  made  portages  across  to  Leech  Lake,  and  floated  down  the  Mis- 
.sissippi  through  Lake  Winnipeg,  eaj)turing  and  killing  straggling  Ojibwas  as  they 
went.  They  arrived  at  Sandy  Lake,  and  attacked  the  village  of  the  Ojibwas.  The 
men  being  away  on  a  war-excursion,  the  Sioux  with  ease  killed  and  captured  their 
Avomen  and  children.  The  Ojibwa  warriors,  to  the  number  of  sixty,  had  left  their 
fiited  village.  On  arriving  at  the  confluence  of  the  Mississippi,  they  discovered  the 
traces  of  tlieir  enemies,  who  had  gone  up  the  C'row-Wing.  Too  late  to  return  to  the 
defence  of  tlieir  village,  they  lay  in  wait  a  short  distance  below  the  mouth  of  the 
Crow-Wing  fur  the  descent  of  the  Sioux,  digging  hiding-holes  on  the  high  e;istern 


THE  TRIBES. 

bank  of  the  Mississippi,  where  the  river  makes  a  sudden  curve  and  the  whole  force 
of  the  current  flows  under  the  bank.  They  had  not  waited  long  before  the  Sioux 
came  floating  down  the  stream  in  triumph,  with  many  scali)8  and  jjrisoners.  They 
landed  opposite  the  upper  mouth  of  the  Crow-Wing,  to  cook  their  morning  meal, 
in  plain  view  of  their  ambushed  enemy. 

The  Ojibwas,  fuming  with  rage,  impatiently  waited  till  their  more  numerous  foes 
had  again  embarked,  and  came  floating  down  almost  directly  under  them.  In  the 
canoes  of  their  enemies  they  recognized  their  wives  and  children,  who  had  been 
taken  captive,  and  let  fly  their  bullets  and  arrows  with  unerring  aim,  picking  out  the 
most  prominent  figures  and  plumed  heads  of  the  Sioux.  In  the  8ur[)riHe  and  excite- 
ment which  ensued,  the  prisoners  jjurposely  tipped  over  the  canoes  of  their  cui)tor8, 
and  many  escaped  to  the  shore,  from  which  their  husbands,  with  dreadful  yells,  were 
dealing  out  the  death-winged  bullet  and  arrow  among  the  enemy.  Many  Sioux  were 
killed  while  they  were  within  range  of  the  Ojibwa  missiles,  and  some  were  drowned 
in  the  deep  current.  The  remainder,  still  more  than  doubly  outnumbering  their 
enemies,  landed  about  half  a  mile  below,  where  they  tied  their  remaining  cajftives  to 
trees,  and  returned  bravely  to  give  battle  to  the  Ojibwas  and  avenge  the  warriors 
they  had  lost. 

The  fight  is  said  to  have  been  waged  with  great  fierceness  for  three  days.  The 
Ojibwas  were  saved  from  annihilation  only  by  being  posted  on  a  hill  where  they 
had  dug  holes,  whence  they  let  fly  their  bullets  and  arrows  on  their  more  exposed 
enemies. 

The  ammunition  of  both  parties  is  said  to  have  failed  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
fight,  and,  the  Sioux  digging  counter-holes,  the  battle  was  waged  with  stones,  knives, 
and  war-clubs.  The  Sioux  finally  retreated,  taking  with  them  their  remaining 
prisoners. 

This  battle  nearly  depopulated  the  flourishing  village  of  Sandy  Lake,  but  it  was 
gradually  replenished  by  families  from  the  Great  Lake,  and  forty  years  afterwards 
the  band  had  regained  their  former  nuiuberH  and  consequence. 

Once  more,  however,  they  came  near  being  totally  annihilated. 

Headeil  by  their  chief,  this  band  would,  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  move  their  camps 
about  Mille  Lacs  and  Crow-Wing  River  to  hunt  the  deer,  bear,  buffalo,  and  elk  that 
abounded  in  those  regions.  While  tlius  encamped  in  force,  the  Sioux  never  dared  to 
attack  them,  though  straggling  parties  and  hunters  were  often  set  upon  and  never 
returned.  One  season,  however,  the  Sioux  mustered  their  warriors  in  force,  and 
with  four  hundred  men  followed  the  return  trail  of  the  Ojibwas,  and  attacked  them 
at  their  encampment  at  Sa-sub-a-gum-a,  or  Cross  Lake,  about  thirty  miles  northeast 
from  the  mouth  of  Crow- Wing  Kiver. 

A  day  before  the  attack  a  part  of  the  camp  had  separated  from  the  main  body 
and  moved  off"  towards  Mille  Lacs ;  and  early  in  the  morning,  before  the  attack  was 
begun,  a  number  of  women  had  gone  on  ahead  with  loads  to  leave  at  the  next  camp- 
ing-ground.    The  lives  of  all  these  were  saved. 

The  canip  numbered  about  twenty  lodges,  eight  of  which  were  long,  containing 


ill 


■I  \ 


If 


I''  ■' 


U,t  fe 


111  'ill 


800 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


some  twenty  pcrsoiiH  apiece,  and  the  entire  nuuther  of  ineu,  women,  iind  cliildrcn 
wiuii  probably  between  two  and  three  hundred.  It  was  located  on  u  long  point  of 
land  running  out  into  the  lake,  and  wiw  approachable  only  by  the  ice  on  the  lake. 
The  scouts  of  the  Sioux  were  discovered  early  in  the  morning,  and  the  Ojibwas  gained 
a  short  time  to  pre])are  for  defence.  The  attack  waw  bravely  made  by  the  8ioux  in 
open  day  marching  in  a  long  line  on  the  ice.  Seeing  their  enemies  thus  advance, 
dancing  and  yelling,  straight  againnt  their  lodges,  two  of  tlie  bravest  Ojibwa  warriors 
(13edud  and  Hhe-shceb)  sallied  forth  and  commenced  the  engagement.  Tlieir  fel- 
lows followed  their  example,  forming  a  barrier  of  their  bodies  on  the  ice  for  the 
shelter  of  the  women  and  children.  They  sustained  the  unecpiul  fight  for  a  long 
time.     Many  lives  were  lost,  for  they  had  no  shelter  to  protect  them. 

The  remnant  of  the  Ojibwa  warriors  at  lost  retreated  to  their  lodges,  where  they 
maintained  the  conflict  a  long  time  in  defence  of  their  families.  In  the  area  where 
they  made  this  last  stand,  every  lodge-pole,  shrub,  and  tree  was  perforated  with 
bullets.  When  the  Sioux  had  silenced  the  last  yell  and  gun  of  their  enemies,  they 
killed  the  women  and  children,  save  a  few  whom  they  took  captive. 

Soon  after  this  second  almost  entire  annihilation  of  the  Sandy  Lake  band  ut  Cross 
Lake,  the  Pillagers  received  a  severe  blow  in  the  loss  of  a  iiuniber  of  their  bravest 
warriors  in  a  hard  fight  with  the  Northern  or  Sisseton  Sioux. 

This  band  of  Ojibwas  had  fearlessly  pushed  their  way  westward  from  Sandy 
Lake,  in  the  footsteps  of  their  retreating  foe,  till  they  came  to  Leech  Lake.  Finding 
this  locality  adapted  to  their  mode  of  life,  and  for  defence  against  the  war-parties  of 
the  Sioux,  they  made  it  the  site  of  their  permanent  rallying-point  or  village. 

Of  the  numberless  engagements  in  which  the  Pillagers  have  met  the  Sioux,  a 
fight  wherein  they  lost  many  of  their  bravest  warriors  furnishes  a  fair  sample  of  the 
foolhardy  spirit  with  which  they  were  possessed,  and  which  they  retain  to  this  day. 

A  party  of  forty  of  their  best  warriors  left  Leech  Lake  on  an  excursion  against 
the  Sioux.  Arriving  in  the  vicinity  of  Leaf  Lake,  the  liead-waters  of  Leaf  lliver, 
which  empties  into  the  Crow-Wing,  they  heard  the  occasional  report  of  guns  in  the 
direction  of  a  distant  hill.  Early  in  the  morning  they  approached  the  place  where 
they  expected  to  find  the  enemy.  The  Sioux  had  just  broken  camp,  leaving  their 
fires  still  burning.  Their  trail  led  in  the  direction  of  Leaf  Lake,  and,  though  it 
showed  that  their  force  was  a  large  one,  the  Ojibwas  unhesitatingly  followed  them. 

In  a  wide,  open  prairie  they  discovered  three  of  their  enemies,  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  off,  and,  urged  by  one  of  their  number,  they  immediately  gave  chase.  The 
Sioux  turned  and  fled,  finding  little  ilifliculty  in  preserving  the  distance  between 
them  and  their  pursuers.  Every  now  and  then,  indeed,"  they  would  stop  on  a  hill 
for  a  moment  and  throw  up  their  blankets  in  order  to  lure  on  the  enemy.  At  last 
Leaf  Lake  was  reached,  when  the  Sioux  led  the  chase  around  the  sandy  beach  of 
the  lake,  and  finally  disappeared  into  a  thickly-wooded  ravine.  Ilcgardless  of  con- 
sequences, the  foremost  Pillagers  rushed  after  them.  On  running  uj)  a  hill,  a  sight 
burst  on  them  that  made  them  come  to  a  sudden  halt. 

On  a  smooth  prairie  stood  a  camp  of  over  three  hundred  Sioux  lodges.     The 


THE  TRIBES. 


301 


;os.     Tho 


inmiitoH  had  hpcii  niarincd  by  tho  f\igitivt«.  FigiircH  were  ruiiiiiiig  to  ami  fro  in  wild 
disorder,  and  warriofH  were  eollccting  at  the  heat  of  the  drum.  The  poor  Pilhigern, 
out  of  breath,  and  in  tlie  centre  of  their  eneniien,  wlio  were  mipplied  with  horwefl, 
could  do  nothing  but  Hell  their  livew  iih  dearly  as  ponHible.  ThiH  tluty  determined  to 
do,  and,  when  half  of  their  number  had  collected,  they  laid  an  ambush  for  the  coming 
of  their  foes. 

On  tho  shores  of  tho  lake,  near  a  ravin,  which  led  to  tho  Sioux  eamp,  was  a  low 
narrow  piece  of  ground,  covered  with  high  grass.  On  one  side  was  tho  lake,  and  on 
the  other  a  watery  marsh,  which  extended  some  distance  inland.  This  pass  the 
Ojibwas  occupied,  hiding  in  tho  tidl  grass;  while  their  numlK!rs  kept  increasing  from 
the  stragglers  behind  till  nearly  their  whole  party  was  collected. 

The  Sioux  by  this  time  had  gathered  their  warriors  and  put  on  their  war-orna- 
ments, and  they  sallied  out  througii  the  ravine  in  a  dense  body  of  painted  warriors, 
whooping  and  yelling.  At  their  head  ran  backwards  and  forwards  a  prominent 
llgure,  who  held  in  his  hand  the  war-tlag  of  feathers,  and  on  whose  breast  shone  a 
large  white  medal.  Ho  wore  a  blue  garnished  coat,  and,  being  a  prominent  mark,  at 
the  first  fire  of  the  ambushed  Ojibwas  he  fell  dead. 

At  the  fall  of  their  leailer,  the  Sioux,  regardless  of  tho  usual  Indian  mode  of 
fighting,  of  dodging  up  and  down  and  hiding  behind  trees,  rushed  on  in  a  body  to 
overwhelm  their  enemies.  The  bullets  of  the  Pillagers  mowed  numbers  of  them 
down,  but  the  survivors  pressed  on,  grappled  with  their  foe,  and  soon  succeeded  in 
silencing  tho  firing  and  yelling.  Some  of  the  Pillagers  threw  themselves  into  the 
marsli,  where  they  became  a  mark  for  their  enemies'  bullets ;  others  retired  from  the 
pass  into  the  W(mm1s,  and  from  behind  trees  kept  up  the  unequal  fight.  The  last 
stragglers  of  their  party  had  by  this  time  arrived  ui)on  the  scene  of  battle,  among 
them  ho  who  had  urged  the  party  on  to  tho  mad  pursuit  of  the  three  Sioux.  He 
had  heard  tho  reproaches  of  his  comrades  in  silence ;  and  now,  telling  those  that 
could  to  save  themselves  by  flight,  he  rushed  forward  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
Sioux,  in  order  to  give  his  friends  a  chance  for  escape.  The  few  that  thus  got  off 
heard  for  a  long  time  the  repeated  volhsys  fired  at  their  devoted  comrade,  which 
were  answered  by  his  single  gun  and  solitary  Sits-sak-way,  as  for  a  time  he  main- 
tained the  une(iual  fight.  At  bust  the  exultant  yells  of  the  Sioux  told  that  they  had 
killed  their  brave  foe. 

Not  one-third  of  those  forty  warriors  ever  returned  to  Leech  Ijuke.  A  few  yeara 
since,  the  leaders,  Kukunshawinin  and  Wenongay,  were  still  alive,  and  it  was  the 
boast  of  the  latter,  when  he  struck  the  war-jrolo  to  relate  his  exploits,  that  in  this 
tight  he  shot  down  seven  Sioux  and  brought  home  their  scalps.  At  this  rate  the 
jslaughter  among  tho  Sisseton  ranks  must  have  been  great. 

In  searching  for  the  causes  that  have  conduced  to  the  great  success  of  the  Ojibwas 
over  the  warlike  and  numerous  Sioux,  it  shouhl  not  bo  forgotten  that  the  former 
enjoyed  a  great  advantage  in  the  fact  that  the  course  of  the  streams  whose  head- 
waters they  had  secured  by  con([uest  flowed  down  to  the  haunts  and  villages  of 
their  enemies. 


^!i- 


•ft    ■< 


^l 


m 


302 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  fUE   UNITED  STATES. 


The  Ojibwaa  respect  the  bravery  of  the  Dakotaa,  and  call  them  strong-hearted 
men.  It  is  only  by  hard,  incessant  fighting,  and  much  loss  of  life  and  blood,  that 
the  Ojibwaa  hold  the  position  they  now  lo  as  the  conquering  tribe. 

Shortly  after  their  first  incursion  to  St.  Peter's*  under  No-kay,  the  Ojibwaa  again 
collected  a  war-party  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  and,  embarking  in  their 
canoes,  floated  down  the  Mississippi. 

In  floating  down  a  river  on  a  war-party,  one  canoe  is  always  sent  in  advance,  and 
scouts  are  sometimes  sent  ahead  by  land.  This  is  to  guard  against  ambush  on  the 
river-banks. 

When  the  party  had  arrived  near  the  mouth  of  Elk  River,  the  scouts  in  the 
foremost  canoe,  close  to  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  heard  Sioux  talking  and 
laughing  on  the  bank  immediatel  ^  above  them. 

Turning  tlieir  canoe  round,  they  stole  along  the  bank  and  escaped  behind  a  point 
unseen  by  their  enemies.  Here  they  met  the  foremost  canoes  of  their  friends,  and 
the  alarm  was  quickly  but  silently  spread  from  canoe  to  canoe.  The  fleet  happened 
to  be  opposite  an  extensive  bottom,  thickly  wooded.  The  Ojibwas  sprang  to  land, 
and,  pulling  their  canoes  after  them,  rushed  through  the  woods  to  attack  their  ene- 
mies. 

They  found  them  upon  an  open  prairie,  stretched  out  in  a  long  line,  equal  in 
number  to  themselves.  Tliey  were  leisurely  walking  along,  bent  on  a  war-excursion. 
Being  out  of  bullet-range  from  tlie  wood,  the  Ojibwa  warriors  rushed  on  as  if  to  a 
feii-st,  "fii-st  come,  first  served."  Their  war-yell  waa  answered  by  the  Sioux,  and 
bullet  and  arrow  were  returned  for  bullet  and  arrow. 

For  a  short  time  the  Sioux  manfully  witlist(Hid  the  eager  onset  of  their  enemies, 
but,  seeing  warrior  after  warrior  emerge  from  the  woods  on  a  line  of  half  a  mile,  they 
thought  ihe  Ojibwa-s  many  times  outnumbered  them,  and  under  this  impression  they 
turned  and  fled.  Occasionally  they  would  stop  to  fire  at  their  pursuers,  and  thus  a 
riinuiiig  fight  was  kept  up  for  upwards  ol  three  miles.  At  the  mouth  of  Elk  River 
till'  Sioux  encountered  a  liirge  party  of  tlieir  fellows  who  had  come  across  the  country 
from  the  St.  Peter's  River  to  join  the  war-party.  With  this  addition  they  outnum- 
bered the  Ojibwas  nenrly  double,  and  the  chase  was  turned  the  other  way.  The 
Ojil)was  (led  up  the  banks  of  Elk  Kiver,  and  when  tired  of  their  long  run  they 
stopped  in  a  fine  grove  of  oiik-trees,  deti'rniined  to  make  a  stand." 

Here  the  fight  wius  sustained  for  some  time,  the  Ojibwas  firing  from  the  shelter 
of  the  trees,  until  the  Si(nix,  finding  they  ccaild  not  dislodge  them  in  any  other  wiiy, 
set  fire  to  the  dry  prairie-grass.  The  Ojibwas  again  fled,  and  were  at  last  driven  on 
to  an  island,  where,  the  Sioux  not  daring  to  m()h>st  them,  the  fight  ended. 

Short  intervals  of  pciiee  have  oceitsionally  oci  irred  in  tiio  course  of  the  bloody 
feud  between  these  two  tribes. 


'  In  lliL-  Ojiliwii  (i)nj;uo  thin  river  is  puIIlmI  Oih-kr-liuj-r-itr-hr  (New  Loaf  HIvit). 

'  Tlirnuj^li  tliJK  iiliice  the  main  roail  up  to  the  Mi.s.sisr<i]i]ii  imw  |)a.s.scH.     Tlio  holes  in  tlio  gi'ouml  are  still 
visible,  .t;.<d  huiuc  contain  particles  ul'  bones. 


t  (Irivi'u  uii 


THE   TRIBES. 


303 


^louiid  lire  .still 


One  was  brought  about  by  tlie  chief  Bi-ans-wah,  who  at  this  time  proposed  to 
the  S'oux  the  discarding  of  their  old  custom  of  burning  captives.  Tiiis  peace  was 
broken  by  the  Sioux  about  eighty  yeai-s  ago,  and  another  short  peace  was  effected 
between  the  two  tribes  in  the  following  manner : 

A  large  war-party  of  Sioux  was  discoveied  by  the  scouts  of  an  Ojibwa  camp  on 
Platte  River.  The  Ojibwas,  fearing  the  result  of  an  attack  on  account  of  their 
women  and  children,  decided  on  a  bold  manoeuvre.  Should  this  fail,  they  were 
determined  to  fight  to  the  last. 

A  flag  wiis  attached  to  a  pole,  and  a  brave  warrior  sallied  out  singly  to  meet  tho 
Sioux.  He  discovered  them  as  they  were  stealing  along  to  attack  the  camp.  He 
shouted  to  them,  and,  as  the  whole  party  were  preparing  to  rush  towards  him,  he 
threw  down  his  gun,  and  with  his  flag  he  fearlessly  ran  into  their  midst.  He  was 
caught  in  the  arms  of  two  stalwart  warriors ;  many  blows  were  aimed  at  him  with 
war-clubs  and  knives,  and  he  expected  every  moment  to  suffer  death ;  but  a  tall 
Sioux  took  his  part  and  defended  him,  warding  off  the  blows  that  were  aimed  at  his 
head.  After  the  excitement  in  the  Sioux  ranks  had  in  a  mciisme  subsided,  one  of 
their  warriors  stepped  up,  and,  taking  hold  of  the  Ojibwa,  oft'ered  to  wrestle  with 
him.  The  Sioux  was  esisily  thrown  ;  getting  uj),  he  again  took  hold  of  his  opi)onent, 
and  Wiis  again  prostra*^ed.  Then  the  discomfited  Sioux  lighted  his  pipe  and  smoked 
with  him  (the  sign  of  peace).  He  gave  liim  also  as  presents  his  pipe,  gun,  and 
clothing.  On  this  the  brave  Ojibwa  led  the  party  to  his  camp,  where  the  two  hostile 
tribes  saluted  one  another  with  firing  of  guns,  etc.  The  pipe  of  peace  was  smok-jd, 
the  pijMJ-danee  danced,  and  they  ate  out  of  the  same  dish.  The  war-club  for  a  little 
time  was  buried. 

Nearly  a  century  ago,  bands  of  the  Ojibwas  from  Sandy  Lake,  Leech,  and  Mille 
Lacs  conuneneed  to  reside  permanently  on  the  Lower  Mississippi  at  Gull  Lake, 
Crow-Wing  River,  and  ilown  Jis  far  as  Little  Rock.  These  bands  soon  formed  under 
one  chief,  and  Ixjcame  known  as  the  "(Jreat  River  men."  Their  chief  was  Ke-che 
15a-be-se-gun-dib-a ,  or  Rig  Curly-Head. 

About  this  time  an  event  of  importance  in  their  history  happened, — viz.,  the  fight 
at  Ijong  Prairie.  This  fight  occurred  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  early  in  the  present 
century.  A  party  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  warriors  was  collected  by  Ba-l)c-se- 
gun-dilwx,  chief  of  the  Mississippi  men,  and  Esh-ke-bug-e-cosh,  or  Flat-Mouth, 
chief  of  the  Pillagers. 

At  tiie  head  of  their  warriors  they  marched  against  the  Sioux.  In  passing 
through  Long  Prairie  (which  was  then  Sioux  country)  they  fell  on  a  large  trail  of 
tiicir  enemies.  Following  it  up,  they  discovered  a  cami)  of  alM)iil  forty  of  their 
l(i(l''es  a  short  distance  below  tlie  Pine  liend.  Earlv  in  the  morning  this  larye 
',;imp  was  attacked  by  the  Ojibwas.  The  whole  party  repeatwily  iired  into  the  Imlges 
from  a  short  distance,  and  In'tbre  the  Sioux  warriors  iiad  recovered  from  their  sur- 
prise many  nuist  have  been  killed.  They  at  liu-*t  sallied  out  to  tlie  iuuul)er  of  sixty- 
six  men,  and  resisted  manfully.  The  battle  lasted  the  whole  day,  until  only  seven 
tit"  the  Sioux  survived  to  continue  the  ligiil,  and  tiiey  were  apparently  «U'termined  to 


m 


n 


i'}. 


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'ii 

P 

.  1  l| 

1 

1  li 

304 


TlIK  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


(lie  on  the  spot.  Miraculously  they  escaiied  the  many  missiles  aimed  at  them,  till 
the  Ojibwas,  being  entirely  out  of  ammunition,  and  fearing  lest  their  foes  would  be 
reinforced  from  neighboring  eanjjiH,  retreated. 

The  loss  of  tlic  Sioux  in  tliis  attack  was  great,  and  probably  equalled  that  which 
they  had  inflicted  on  the  Ojibwas  on  a  former  occasion  at  Cross  Lake.  From  this 
time  the  Sioux  fell  back  from  the  woods  to  their  western  prairies,  and,  after  receiving 
repeated  blows  from  Bug-on-a-ke-shig,  Song-uk-um-ig,  and  others,  they  eventually 
altogether  eviicuated  that  jiortion  of  their  former  country  lying  north  of  Sac  River 
and  south  and  east  of  Leaf  liiver  to  the  Mississippi. 

Long  Prairie  is  noted  as  having  been  on  four  different  occasions  wetted  with  the 
blood  of  the  two  hostile  tribes,  Crow-Wing  three  times,  Elk  liiver  three  times.  Gull 
Lake  twice,  Sandy  Lake  thrice ;  and  indeed  every  place  of  any  note  on  the  former 
bonier  of  the  two  tribes  between  Selkirk's  settlement  and  the  Wisconsin  River  has 
been  freely  baptized  in  blood. 

We  have  now  narrated  the  different  events  of  importance  connected  with  their 
wars  in  the  history  of  the  Upper  Mississip2)i  branch  of  the  Ojibwa  tribe  to  a  tom- 
jiaratively  recent  period. 

IJefore  we  relate  events  happening  in  the  days  of  Strong  Ground,  or  Song-uk- 
uni-ig,  and  Ilole-in-the-sky,  or  Bug-on-tirke-shig,'  we  will  mention  a  few  names 
that  have  been  noted  in  the  history  of  this  important  jwrtion  of  their  tribe. 

lii-ans-wah  may  be  called  their  pioneer  to  these  regions.  Here  he  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  a  dynasty  or  ehieftaiiidom  which  has  descended  to  his  children,  and  tiie 
benefits  of  wliicli  they  are  reaping  after  him.  His  grandson,  Ka-da-Wil-be-da, 
became  a  noted  chief  of  the  Sautly  Lake  bands  ;  not  so  much  for  prowess  in  war  as 
for  the  great  influence  he  exerted  over  his  bands,  to  whom  he  was  truly  a  father. 
He  was  a  warm  friend  to  the  whites,  and  the  traders  of  the  country  loved  him. 
These  were  of  the  old  Northwest,  Astor,  and  other  mining  companies  that  at  different 
times  in  his  day  sent  clerks  with  goods  to  Sandy  Lake  and  the  Mississij)pi.  Their 
j)resent.s  to  the  hunters  were  given  through  the  hands  of  Ka-da-wa-be-da.  His 
wigwam  was  noted  for  its  spaciousness  and  neatness.  On  his  mat  tal)le  he  used  tlic 
knives,  forks,  and  dislics  of  the  wliites.  He  also  kept  a  li(pior-ca.se,  which  was 
always  well  supplied,  and  from  which  he  indulged  sparingly.  On  his  death-bed,  at 
an  advanced  age,  he  rcipiested  that  his  Iwdy  shouhl  not  be  buried  in  the  ground,  but 
lliat  it  should  be  hung  uj)  in  tiie  air  on  a  scaflblding.  His  wishes  being  complied 
witli,  it  became  a  custom  of  his  family  thus  to  dispose  of  their  dead.  His  totem  was 
tiie  royal  Ah-awh-wauk.  One  of  his  sons,  Mong-o-zid,  or  Loon's- Foot,  a  well-known 
chief  of  tlie  I^ake  Su|icrior  Indians,  resided  at  Fond  du  Lac. 

Anotlier  noted  cliief  of  tlie  Mis><issi|»pi  bands  flourished  contemporaneously  witli 
Ka-da-wa-be-da.  His  name  was  Ke-che  l>a-l)e-se-guii-dil)-a  (liig  Curly-Head),  and 
he  was  the  chief  of  the  lower  and  more  liardy  bands  who  followed  close  upon  tlie 


Tlie  war-sun;;  of  tliitt  I'lricf  wius  uildri'.ssril  to  lii.<  >;uanliaii  lipirit,  sccli  tlirouj^h  »  liiilc  in  the  sky. 


THE   TRIBES. 


305 


retreating  footsteps  of  the  Sioux  on  the  Missi.ssip]>i.  This  chief  is  aptly  spoken  of  as 
tlic  vanguard  or  bulwark  of  his  tribe,  llis  is  a  name  that  will  long  be  cherished  in 
the  memory  of  the  Ojibwas.  In  the  words  of  one  of  their  principal  men,  "He  was 
a  father  to  our  fathers,  who  looked  on  him  as  a  parent ;  his  lightest  wish  was  quickly 
obeyed ;  his  lodge  was  ever  hung  with  meat ;  and  the  traders  vied  with  one  another 
who  should  treat  him  best ;  his  hand  was  oi)en,  and  when  lie  had  plenty  our  fathers 
wanted  not."  Three  times  he  led  his  warriors  with  success  against  their  enemies, 
each  time  his  band  returning  with  bloody  knives  and  reeking  scalps.  Twice  he  was 
attacked  in  his  hunting-camp  ly  Hioux  war-parties,  and  both  times  he,  with  his 
warriors,  rejjulsed  them. 

Strong  Ground  and  Hole- in-the-sky  were  in  their  youth  his  pipe-bearers,  and 
they  waited  on  him  till  the  daj  of  his  death. 

Song-uk-um-ig  was  as  fine  a  specimen  of  an  Indian  as  ever  trod  the  soil  of 
America,  lie  was  an  honor-loving  chief,  not  only  by  name,  but  by  nature  also, 
lie  Avas  noted  for  his  unflinching  bravery,  generosity,  and  firmness,  the  last  of  which 
is  a  rare  quality  among  the  Indians,  not  more  than  one  out  of  ten  of  whom  is 
possessed  of  any  strength  of  character.  To  give  an  instance  of  his  daring,  on  one 
occiision  he  fought  singly,  by  the  side  of  a  mounted  comrade,  with  seven  Sioux,  and 
drove  them  off'  with  loss.  His  first  fight  was,  when  a  mere  boy,  at  Long  Prairie 
battle.  Again  he  was  present  at  an  attack  of  a  Sioux  camp  at  Po])lar  Grove,  on 
Long  Prairie,  where  the  Ojilnvas  killed  many  of  their  foes.  On  another  occasion  he 
led  a  night-attack  on  a  camp  at  Crow  River. 

At  Hound  I'rairie,  also,  he  with  an  Ottawa  cut  off  from  a  large  Sioux  camp  three 
boys  while  they  were  sliding  on  the  ice  in  i)lain  view  of  their  friends.  At  Fort 
Snclling  he  was  the  one  who  fearlessly  went  into  the  guard-house  and  led  out  four 
Sioux  prisoners,  armeil  with  their  knives,  who  had  shot  into  their  camp  (as  usual  in 
time  of  peace)  and  killed  four  Ojibwas.  These  prisonei-s  Song-uk-um-ig  took  out 
of  the  fort,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  officers  and  garrison,'  and  a  large  assembly  of 
Si(Uix,  he  bade  them  run  for  their  lives  from  the  bullet.s  of  the  Ojibwas  whose 
relatives  they  had  killed. 

The  Chippewius,  who  established  their  council-fire  and  seat  of  government  on  the 
isliind  at  La  Pointe  Chegoiiiiegon, — shortened  in  modern  days  to  La  Pointe, — had 
other  enemies  to  encounter  besides  the  Sioux.  The  Outagamis,  or  Foxes,  who  were 
iilso  emigrants  from  the  east,  had  settled  in  the  valley  of  Fox  River,  and  had  ex- 
tended to  the  series  of  lakes  about  the  sources  of  the  Wisconsin  and  Chippewa 
Rivers.  Between  the  Outagamis  and  the  Sioux  a  good  understanding  existed,  which 
bad  been  so  cultivated  that  mutual  aid  was  expected  to  be  given  in  eases  of  emer- 
gency. Through  this  alliance  the  Chippewas  were  well  received  on  their  first 
appearance  at  Chegoim(>gon,  for  they  are  affiliated  with  the  Foxes  by  language  and 
early  history.  During  this  early  period  offices  of  civility  were  exchanged,  and  inter- 
marriages took  place.      The  Chippewiis  were  in  fact  seateil  on  the  borders  of  the 


)»r 


'  This  wii.H  (lime  liy  unlcr  ol'  ColMnoi  Snclling. —  II.  K.  S. 

an 


306 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Outagami  lands,  and  the  three  tribes  lived  in  a  state  of  friendship.  But  when 
dissension  arose  between  the  Cliij)pewas  and  Sioux,  the  Outagamis,  agreeably  to  the 
reputation  given  them  by  the  French,  were  found  to  be  treaclierous.  They  secretly 
sided  with  the  Sioux  against  the  Chippewas.  A  war  between  the  Chippewas  and  the 
Foxes  was  the  consequence,  in  the  course  of  which  the  latter  were  driven  from  the 
rice-lakes  and  the  intermediate  hunting-grounds  around  Lac  du  Flambeau,  and 
conlined  to  the  lower  waters  of  the  Wisconsin. 

This  war  still  existed  when  Waub-ojeeg  came  on  the  stage  of  action.  He  was 
born  at  Chegoiinegon  a  few  years  })rior  to  the  capture  of  Quebec.  Mamongizida, 
his  father,  was  the  ruling  chief  of  that  place  by  right  of  descent,  bearing  the 
totem  of  the  Adik,  or  American  reindeer.  He  had  ever  been,  together  with  his 
tribe,  firmly  attached  to  the  French.  His  family  traditions  affirmed  that  he  had 
visited  Montcalm  at  Quebec  and  carried  a  speech  from  him  to  his  nation.  For  two 
years  after  the  nuussaere  at  jNIichilimackinac,  in  1703,  there  had  been  no  trader 
allowed  by  the  English  to  enter  Lake  Superior.  Waub-ojeeg  visited  Sir  William 
Johnson  to  request  that  traders  might  be  allowed  to  come  among  them,  and  received 
from  his  hands  a  gorget  and  a  belt  of  wampum. 

The  cause  of  the  French  fell  with  the  capture  of  Quebec,  while  Waub-ojeeg  was 
still  bound  in  his  Indian  cradle,  and  he  grew  up  to  manhood  with  vivid  ideas  of  the 
English  supremacy.  The  British  flag  tho^  waved  triumphantly  from  the  walls  of 
Quebec  to  Michilimackinac  and  the  country  of  the  Illinois.  As  soon  as  he  reached 
the  tlirc'shold  of  his  entrance  to  authority,  he  welcomed  the  English  traders  who 
came  with  their  ventures  of  goods  to  Chegoimegon,  or  who  pursued  their  way  to  the 
sources  of  the  Mis.si.ssip])i. 

Waub-ojeeg  was  early  regarded  sus  a  successful  leader  of  war-parties,  and  the 
nation  looked  to  him  to  defend  their  borders  against  the  Sioux,  if  not  to  extend  them. 
During  a  period  of  twenty  years,  dating  from  about  1770,  he  was  the  governing 
spirit  of  his  tril)e.  lioth  as  a  hunter  and  as  a  warrior  he  was  unexcelled.  His  step 
had  a  lightness  and  energy  whicli  lietokened  great  activity  in  the  chase.  He  stood 
six  feet  six  inches  in  his  moccasins.  He  wius  spare  and  rather  lightly  built,  but 
possessed  a  degree  of  strength,  united  to  activity,  which  left  him  few  competitors  in 
Indian  circles.  He  was  seven  times  a  leader  against  the  Outagamis  and  the  Sioux. 
lie  had  received  three  wounds  in  Ijattle, — one  in  his  thigh,  a  second  in  his  right 
sli()u]<ler,  and  a  third  in  his  right  side  and  l)reast. 

His  parties  were  all  made  up  of  volunteers.  The  first  consisted  of  forty  men,  the 
second  of  three  hundred.  Tiie  latter  was  made  up  from  the  entire  southern  coast 
of  Lake  Superi(»r,  extending  to  St.  Mary's.  It  Wiis  the  result  of  an  elaborate  effort, 
helped  on  by  war-dances  and  assemldies.  TIjc  party  luscended  the  Muskigo  or 
Mauvais  llivcr,  crossing  the  portage,  from  its  source  into  the  Namakagon  branch  of 
the  St.  Croix,  and  tlience  proceeded  down  tiie  main  channel.  They  moved  cauticnisly, 
and  were  six  days  in  the  descent  before  they  found  {\\v  enemy.  The  Sioux  and  tlieir 
allies,  tlie  Outaganiis,  had  determined  at  the  same  tinic  on  an  expedition  up  the  St. 
Croix   ajrairist    the  Chippewas.     Eaeii  side  was  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  otliei's 


THE  TRIBES. 


307 


movements,  and  the  scouts  of  both  unwittingly  encountered  each  other  at  the  Falls 
of  St.  Croix.  It  was  early  in  the  morning,  and  a  fog  prevailed.  The  F, ii.es  fired 
first.  A  skirmish  ensued.  Waub-ojeeg  soon  arrived  with  his  jAole  party,  and  a 
general  and  bloody  battle  commenced.  Neither  party  knew  the  other's  otrength,  and 
both  fought  with  desperatica.  At  length  the  Sioux  and  Foxes,  finding  them- 
selves outnumbered,  fled.  This  battle  decided  the  possession  of  the  St.  Croix  Val- 
ley. The  Chippewas  ever  afterwards  claimed  it  to  the  head  of  the  lake  at  its  foot, 
and  this  limit  was,  with  little  question,  yielded  to  them  at  the  treaty  of  boundaries 
at  Prairie  du  Chien  in  1825. 

The  war-song  which  Waub-ojeeg  composed  for  this  expedition  so  impressed  his 
countrymen  that  the  words  were  preserved  and  handed  down  from  mouth  to  mouth. 
John  Johnston,  Esq.,  an  Irish  gentleman,  struck  with  its  heroic  strain,  made  the 
following  version  from  these  verbal  traditions  more  than  seventy  years  ago : 


t         I 


**^i\ 


On  that  day,  when  our  heroes  lay  low,  lay  low, 
On  that  day,  when  our  heroes  lay  low — 
I  fought  by  their  side,  and  thought,  ere  I  died, 
Just  vengeance  to  take  on  the  foe,  the  foe — 
Just  vengeance  to  take  on  the  foe. 


On  that  day,  when  our  chieftains  lay  dead,  lay  dead, 
On  that  day,  when  our  chieftains  lay  dead — 
I  fought  hand  to  hand,  at  the  head  of  my  band. 
And  here,  on  my  breast,  have  I  bled,  have  I  bled — 
And  here,  on  my  breast,  have  I  bled. 

Our  chiefs  shall  return  no  more,  no  more. 

Our  chiefs  shall  return  no  more — 

Nor  their  brethren  of  war,  who  can  show  scar  for  scar. 

Like  .Tomcn  their  fate  shall  deplore,  deplore — 

Like  women  their  fate  shall  deplore. 

Vivo  winters  in  hunting  we'll  spend,  we'll  spend. 
Five  winters  in  hunting  we'll  spend — 
Till  our  youth,  grown  to  men,  we'll  to  war  lead  again, 
And  our  days  like  our  fathers  will  end,  will  end — 
And  uur  days  like  our  fathers  will  end. 

Waub-ojeeg  died  in  his  family  lodge,  at  Chcgoimegon,  surrounded  by  his  chil- 
dren and  relatives,  in  1793. 

Prominem  among  the  mythological  legends  and  lodge-talcs  of  the  Chippewas 
are  the  acts  of  Manabozho.  He  appears  in  a  thousand  forms,  assuming  as  great 
ii  variety  of  character  as  did  Mercury  himself.  For,  while  the  theory  always 
regards  liim  as  w  god,  he  is  often  put  to  the  lowest  shifts  of  a  man.  Though  he  can 
transform  birds  and  (piadrupeds  into  men,  ho  is  often  at  desperate  straits  for  a  meal, 
and  resorts  to  tricks  of  the  lowest  kind.  Put  he  has  always  his  magic  drum  and 
rattles  with  him  to  raise  up  supernatural  powers  to  help  him  out  of  his  difliculties. 


308 


TUE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


He  luia  power  to  send  the  birds  and  beasts  on  all  sorts  of  errands,  yet  will  some- 
times, as  when  they  danced  before  him,  snatch  a  fat  duck  or  two  to  make  a  meal. 
He  survived  a  general  deluge  Ji  the  earth,  and  afterwartls  recreated  it  by  telling  the 
beaver  and  muskrat  to  dive  down  after  a  little  inuil.  Though  often  j)inched  by 
want  during  the  story-telling  season,  the  Indians  are  excessively  amused  by  these 
grotesque  stories. 

The  Chippewas  are  pre-eminently  brave  warriors,  and  expert  woodsmen  and 
foresters, — delighting  in  seclusion,  forests,  and  mysticism,  but  finding  their  chief 
ploiisure  in  the  chase.  They  despise  the  arts  of  civilization,  fixed  industry,  and 
letters.  They  have  always  regarded  the  use  of  the  bow  and  arrow,  war-club,  and 
spear,  as  the  noblest  employment  of  man.  War  is  pui-sucd  by  the  Northern  Algon- 
kins  as  the  only  avenue  open  to  them  which  is  ciipable  of  satisfying  their  thirst  for 
glory.  Their  appetite  for  praise  is  strong,  and  they  delight  to  win  admiration  for 
their  hnrdihood  in  surmounting  the  dangers  of  the  forest  or  the  vicissitudes  of 
climate.  Wild  adventures  of  the  chase  occupy  a  large  space  in  their  lodge  reminis- 
cences, mingled  as  the  recitals  usually  are  with  tales  of  the  supernatural  and  the 
developments  of  mysterious  agencies.  But  it  is  success  in  war  alone  that  fills  the 
highest  aspirations  of  the  Chippewa  mind.  To  hunt  well  and  to  fight  well  are  the 
first  and  the  lust  themes  of  their  ho)ies  and  praises  of  the  living  and  the  dead. 

Assuming  these  pursuits  as  the  best  guarantees  of  their  happiness  and  indepen- 
dence, they  have  ever  looked  upon  agricultural  and  mechanical  labors  as  degrading. 
In  all  their  history  they  have,  till  within  a  few  years,  steadily  opposed  the  introduc- 
tion of  schools,  as  well  as  all  plans  of  husbandry. 

They  have  intuitively  recognized  that  two  states  of  society  so  antagonistical  as 
the  hunter  and  the  civilized  state  could  not  long  exist  prosperously  in  juxtiiposition. 
They  have  continually  felt  that  the  stronger  or  superior  state  would  absorl)  and 
destroy  the  weaker  or  inferior  one.  "  I  wandered  about,"  said  a  Chippewa  chief  to 
Mr.  Schoolcraft  in  1822,  "  after  you  first  arrived  at  these  falls,  like  a  bird  not  know- 
ing where  to  alight."  "  Let  us  drive  these  dogs  in  red  clothing  into  the  sea,"  said 
Pontiac,  in  I"*!;},  in  reference  to  the  British  colonies.  "Throw  away  your  fire- 
steels,"  said  the  Prophet  of  the  Wabiish  in  1811,  "  and  use  the  old  method  of  making 
fire ;  ])ut  on  skins  for  clothing,  jia  our  fathers  did,  if  you  would  escape  the  anger  of 
the  (Jrcat  Spirit."  And  these  sentiments  have  been  found  more  fresh  and  vigorous 
in  the  Northern  tribes  in  proportion  as  they  had  felt  less  of  the  infiuences  of  frontier 
lii'f,  anil  occn|)ic(l  remoter  positions  in  the  great  and  unchanged  wilderneas. 

The  Ojibwa  l)elieves  that  his  soul  or  shadow,  after  the  death  of  the  body,  follows 
a  wide  beaten  path  which  leads  towards  the  west,  and  that  it  goes  to  a  country  where 
he  shall  enjoy  everything  that  the  Indian  coveLs  on  earth, — game  in  abundance, 
dancing,  and  rejoicing.  The  soul  enters  a  long  lodge,  in  which  are  congregated  all 
his  relatives  for  generations  [)ast,  who  welcome  him  with  gladness.  To  reach  this 
land  of  joy  and  bliss  Ik;  crosses  a  deep  and  rajtid  water. 

In  all  their  |)rincipal  and  oldest  traditions  and  lodge  tales,  twelve  brothers  are 
spoken  of:  they  are  the  sons  of  (ie-tub-e,  a  name  nearly  similar  to  Jacob.     The 


THE   TRIBES. 


309 


oldest  of  these  brothers  is  calle<l  Mujekewis,  and  the  youngest  Wa-jceg-e-wa-kon-ay, 
named  after  his  coat  of  fisher's  skins,  by  moans  of  which  he  resisted  the  machin- 
ations of  evil  spirits.  lie  was  the  beloved  of  his  father  and  of  the  Great  Spirit, 
and  the  wisest  and  most  powerful  of  his  twelve  brothers.  The  tradition  also  in 
which  originated  the  Ke-na-big-wusk  ("snake-root"),  which  forms  one  of  the  four 
main  branches  of  the  Aledawin,  reminds  us  of  the  brazen  serpent  of  Moses  that 
saved  the  lives  of  the  unbelieving  Israelites.  In  the  Indian  tradition  the  serpent 
is  made  to  show  to  man  a  root  which  saved  the  lives  of  a  great  town  that  was  being 
depopulated  by  pestilence. 

Of  late  years  the  Ojibwiis  have  l)een  progressing  westward,  and  from  their  tradi- 
tions it  is  evident  that  they  had  begun  their  migration  l)efore  the  white  man  landed 
in  America.  They  were  probably  driven  from  the  etust  by  more  powerful  tribes,  till 
they  made  their  final  stand,  nearly  three  centuries  ago,  on  Lake  Superior.  They 
set  up  their  central  town  on  an  island  in  the  lake  (La  Pointe),  where  they  were  first 
seen  by  the  whites,  who  found  them  in  the  attitude  of  an  encroaching  and  invading 
tribe,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  enemies,  whom  they  denominate  Nodowaig,  or 
Iro<iuois,  Odugameeg,  or  Foxes,  Aboinug,  or  Sioux,  and  Omameeg. 

They  date  with  certainty  their  first  acquaintance  with  the  whites  nine  generations 
ago,  and  they  agree  in  stilting  that  for  a  long  tiuic  before  this  Moningwunakaun 
(La  Pointti)  had  formed  their  central  seat  and  town.  Many  of  the  chiefs  and  old  men 
believe  that  here  their  ancestors  have  lived  since  "  the  world  was  new."  It  is  only 
by  a  study  of  their  varied  and  numerous  traditions  that  they  can  be  traced  as  coming 
from  an  easterly  direction  prior  to  their  residence  on  the  island  of  La  Pointe.  Fi'om 
these  traditions  we  learn  that  they  once  were  familiar  with  the  great  salt  ocean,  again 
that  they  once  lived  on  a  great  river,  and  then  on  a  great  lake,  where  they  extermi- 
nated a  powerful  tribe  whom  they  call  the  Mundua,  until  at  last  we  find  them  on 
Lake  Superior. 

PILLAGERS,  OR   MUKKUNDWAS. 

This  term  is  derived  from  a  verb  in  the  Chippewa  language  which  implies 
talking  openly,  by  an  exercise  of  self-constituted  authority,  and  as  such  the  tribe 
rejoice  in  it.  They  went  out  originally  from  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Chippcwas 
at  Cliegoiraegon,  on  Lake  Superior.  The  whole  tribe  of  this  name  have  from  early 
(lays  been  progreasive  towards  the  northwest.  Their  language  denotes  that  the  race 
had  in  early  epochs  dwelt  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  and  their  own  traditions 
confirm  this  view.  But  what  changes  of  name  they  had  undergone  it  is  impossible 
to  tell,  as  all  the  names  of  tribal  divisions  of  the  stock  which  have  reached  iis  seem 
modern.     They  are  identical  with  the  great  Chippewa  family. 

They  were  found  by  the  French  in  their  discovery  of  the  country  at  the  central 
position  of  the  large  group  of  islands  which  occupy  this  commanding  lake,  about  La 
Pointe  Chegoimegon,  on  Lake  Superior.  This  magnificent  body  of  water,  with  its 
tributiiry  rivei-s,  affords  them  an  opportunity  for  the  display  of  their  skill  in  canoe- 
craft  and  navigation,  in  which  they  have  always  excelled.     The  variety  offish  in  its 


CfH!-, 


Ill    IVK 


310 


TJIE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


waters  afforded  a  reliable  resource  at  all  seasons.  The  surrounding  shores  were  cel- 
ebrated for  their  abundance  of  the  beaver  and  small  furred  animals,  so  much  valued 
on  the  oi)ening  of  the  fur-trade  of  Canada,  and  were  equally  celebrated  for  the  deer, 
elk,  moose,  and  bear.  It  was  here  that  the  French  established  their  first  mission  in 
the  up[)er  lakes,  under  D'Ablon,  Marquette,  and  Marest.  Their  early  traditions  of 
conquest  speak  of  celebrated  men  called  Noka,  lii-ans-wah,  and  Waub-ojeeg.  Under 
these  the  martial  spirit  of  the  tribe  drove  the  Outagamis  and  the  Sauks  from  the 
country  at  the  source  of  the  Ontonagon,  Montreal,  Wisconsin,  and  Chippewa ;  ex- 
pelled the  Sioux,  or  Nuudowessie,  from  the  Upper  St.  Croix  and  Hum  Rivers,  and 
carried  them  to  Sandy  Lake  and  Leech  Lake,  at  tiie  sources  of  the  Mississippi  River. 
The  conquerors  fixed  themselves  first  centrally  at  Sandy  Lake,  and  finally  at  Leech 
Lake,  the  largest  of  all  the  tribuUiries  of  the  Upjjcr  Mississippi,  and  this  has  con- 
tinued to  be  their  location.  It  is  this  tribe  and  the  Sandy  Lake  Chippewas  that 
have  been  the  most  ibrmidable  enemies  of  the  Sioux.  These  bauds  have  often 
fought  with  Spartan  valor.  Retter  woodsmen  and  foresters  than  their  enemies,  they 
have  often  emerged  from  their  forests  in  comj)uratively  small  parties,  impelled  by  the 
8i)irit  of  hereditary  revenge,  and  defeated  their  more  numerous  enemies.  Even 
within  recent  times  such  leaders  as  Pugasainjigun  and  IIole-in-the-Day  lead  us  to 
wonder  at  the  effective  vindication  of  their  acts. 

The  principal  seats  of  the  Pillagers  ai«e  at  Leech  Lake  and  at  Otter-Tail  Lake, 
the  latter  of  which  is  the  eastern  source  of  Red  River  of  Lake  Winnipeg.  They 
also  have  permanent  villages  at  Lake  Winnibeegish,  and  at  the  ancient  Upper  Red 
Cedar,  or  Cass  Lake. 

They  number  about  twelve  hundred  souls,  who  occupy  a  country  some  four  hun- 
dred miles  in  circumference,  interspersed  with  innumerable  lakes,  well  supplied  with 
fish  of  different  species.     The  white-fish  and  trout  ecjual  those  of  Lake  Superior. 

Their  country  has  been  well  adapted  to  Indians  living  in  the  hunter  state,  but  at 
this  day  they  have  nearly  exterminated  the  furred  animals,  and  they  are  obliged 
mostly  to  follow  the  clnise  in  the  hunting-grounds  of  the  Sioux. 

Formerly  the  Pillagers  resided  altogether  at  Leech  Lake,  but  within  a  few  years 
they  have  made  a  gradual  advance  westward.  The  Sioux  have  gradually  receded 
westward,  and  they  have  followed  them  closely,  taking  possession  of  their  deserted 
villages.  An  informant  states  that  within  a  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  they 
have  advanced  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior  to  their  ])reseut  position,  a  distance 
of  three  hundred  miles. 

The  Pillagers,  according  to  the  accounts  of  their  old  men,  separated  from  the 
main  body  of  the  tribe  at  the  general  council-fire  on  Lake  Superior,  before  the  set- 
tlement of  Canada,  and,  ascending  the  St.  Louis  River,  wrested  Sandy  Lake  from 
the  Dakotas,  and  drove  them  westward,  taking  possession  of  their  country  around 
the  sources  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  name  by  which  they  are  at  present  known  has  its  origin  in  the  following 
circumstance,  which  they  themselves  relate: 

The  band,  while  encamped  at  the  mouth  of  a  small  creek  known  to  this  day  as 


THE  TRIBES. 


311 


Pillage  Creek,  ten  miles  above  the  month  of  Crow-Wing  River,  were  visited  by  a 
white  trader  who  had  entered  the  MiasiHsippi  and  followed  it  a  great  distance  with  a 
canoe-load  of  goods  to  barter  with  them  for  fnrs.  lie  arrived  among  tliein  siek  and 
unable  to  trade.  His  goods  having  been  wetted  by  a  rain,  he  ordered  his  men  to 
untie  the  bales  and  spread  them  out  to  dry.  The  Indians,  being  on  the  point  of 
holding  a  grand  medicine-dance,  were  eager  to  trade,  aa  on  such  occasions  they  spare 
no  expense  for  finery.  The  goods  spread  out  before  their  eyes  were  a  temptation 
that  they  could  not  resist.  A  young  man  began  the  pillage  by  tearing  off"  a  breech- 
cloth,  remarking  at  the  same  time  that  he  had  furs  to  pay  the  trader.  Others 
followed  his  example,  till  it  became  a  general  scramble,  and  the  sick  man's  goods 
were  all  taken  from  him.  He  left  the  inhosi)itable  camp  the  next  day,  but  died  on 
his  way  down  the  river,  at  Sauk  Ilapids. 

From  Indian  accounts,  this  hapi)ened  about  the  time  of  the  first  settlement  of  St. 
Louis  by  the  French.  About  this  time  the  fur  company  of  Laclede,  Maxan  &  Co. 
commenced  ojierations,  and  it  is  not  improbable  tiiat  the  trader  here  mentioned  was 
sent  up  by  them.  According  to  another  tradition,  the  goods  had  come  from  Canada, 
by  way  of  Lake  Superior,  and  Berti  is  given  as  the  name  of  the  unfortunate  trader. 

The  Pillagers  are  a  warlike  people,  and  have  always  been  the  advanced  bulwark 
of  the  Chippewas.  Having  been  in  the  van,  they  have  been  in  the  very  midst  of 
the  fire  of  the  enemy,  and  stood  the  brunt  of  the  war  with  the  Sioux. 

It  would  be  impracticable  to  mention  all  their  battles,  surprises,  and  massacres 
during  this  feud,  and  only  two  or  three  notices  of  these  incidents,  of  modern  date, 
will  be  given. 

Their  late  chief,  called  Gueule  Plat  by  the  French,  Flat-Mouth,  or  Esh-ke-bug- 
c-cosh,  distinguished  himself  in  his  younger  days  by  heading  a  war-party  of  one 
hundreil  and  sixty  warriors  who  fell  on  a  camp  of  fitly  lodges  of  Sioux  and  de- 
stroyed all  but  six  men.  This  haj)pened  at  the  northern  end  of  Long  Prairie,  where 
tlie  Winnebago  Agency  is  now  located.  A  severe  fight  occurred  here,  also,  previous 
to  the  above,  and  during  the  lifetime  of  Flat-Mouth's  father.  Many  men  were 
killed  on  both  sides,  and  the  Sioux  were  driven  off'  the  i)rairie. 

A  brave  warrior  by  tlie  name  of  Black  Duck,  about  the  year  1800,  raised  a  con- 
siderable war-party,  and  proceeded  into  the  Sioux  country  about  the  head-waters  of 
St.  Peter's  River.  All  of  his  party  returned  but  forty  tried  warriors.  With  these 
he  proceeded  into  the  very  midst  of  the  Sioux  country,  and,  falling  on  a  large  village, 
destroyed  many  lives,  and  would  have  killed  all  of  the  inhabitants  had  not  a  friendly 
Assiniboine  warned  them  in  their  own  language  that  a  large  village  of  Sioux  was 
near  by,  ami  that  the  attacked  party  had  sent  for  the  warriors  to  come  to  their  aid. 
On  hearing  this,  and  finding  also  that  his  ammunition  was  exhausted.  Black  Duck 
reluctantly  retreated. 

The  Pillagers  had  not  proceeded  fiir,  when,  on  traversing  a  wide  prairie,  clouds 
of  dust  from  the  scene  of  the  massacre  told  them  that  their  enemy  was  approaching. 
At  this  time,  had  they  sej)arated  and  each  sought  to  escape,  many  might  have  re- 
turned home  safe,  but,  preferring  to  meet  <leath  together,  they  seated  themselves  on 


:  ■   • 

1 

1 

m 

1 

hi 

t 

■(■';i 


tf   ,i 


312 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


the  prairie  ami  lu'gan  Hmokiiig  their  pipoH,  quietly  awaiting  the  enemy.  Three  hun- 
dred mounted  Sioux  warriors  dashed  up  and  surrounded  them.  Tht;  struggle  wa« 
with  knives,  tomahawks,  and  spears.  It  was  short  and  hloody,  only  one  Chippewa 
cseai)ing  to  tell  the  tale.  The  loss  of  m  many  of  their  bravest  warriors  was  a  blow 
from  whieh  they  did  not  reeover  for  some  time. 

The  great  massaere  of  the  Chij  pewas  by  the  8ioiix,  in  1837,  at  Stillwater  and 
Hum  lliver,  was  eaused  by  two  Pillagers  killing  a  Sioux  for  the  sake  of  his  sealj). 

Jt  will  reipiire  time  and  strong  itiiluenec  to  induce  the  Pillagers  to  live  at  peace 
with  the  Sioux.  Nothing  so  mueli  hurt  Flat-Mouth's  influence  among  his  bands  as 
liis  (iisposition  for  peace.  In  184(5  he  signed  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Sioux  at 
La  Pointe,  through  the  importunity  of  the  sub-agent,  who  gave  him  a  Hag  and  medal. 
For  this  act  he  was  obliged  to  flee  his  country  for  his  life,  and  remained  away  nearly 
two  years.  He  n(;ver  regained  his  former  influence,  and  was  afterwards  careful  to  do 
nothing  without  the  consent  of  his  warriors. 

Till'  Pillagers  speak  the  same  language  in  pronunciation  and  idiom  as  the 
Chip|)ewas  of  Lake  Superior  and  the  jMississij)pi,  have  the  same  customs,  and  in 
every  respect  but  tiieir  name  and  their  predatory  habits  are  the  sanu(  people.  It  is 
to  be  regretted  that  they  were  not  included  in  the  flrst  treaties  with  those  bands.  At 
the  treaty  in  1837  at  St.  Peter's  it  was  understood  am  ,'  themselves  that  they  would 
sell  as  a  nation  and  share  alike  in  the  annuities.  \V  ith  this  understanding,  Flat- 
JNIouth  was  the  flrst  to  sign  that  treaty,  but,  the  matter  being  left  to  the  Indians, 
seliishness  and  cupidity  induced  the  C'hipi>ewas  of  Superior  and  Mississippi  next 
year  to  deny  the  Pillagers  a  share  In  the  annuity.  This  circumstance  caused  a  tem- 
porary breach  between  them  and  their  felIow-Clii|)j)ewiis ;  but  u  few  years'  inter- 
course with  the  governuient  has  led  to  harmony  of  interests,  and  all  are  now 
])ursuing  the  same  policy  of  improvement  and  industrial  progress. 

Within  the  remend)rance  of  the  old  men,  beaver  were  once  plenty  in  the  country 
they  now  occupy,  and  it  was  as  easy  in  those  days  to  ti-ap  a  ])caver  as  it  is  now  to  trap 
a  muskrat.  About  seventy-live  or  eighty  years  ago,  the  beaver  suddenly  died  ;  their 
dead  bodies  were  found  floating  on  lakes  and  jmhkIs,  and  only  a  few  living  in  running 
water  escaped  the  U-aver  i>estilence.  At  this  tlay  there  are  none  found  in  the 
country. 

Among  the  Pillagers  all  the  old  men,  and  many  of  the  old  women,  are  mcdawlii, 
and  j)ractise  medicine.  There  are  a  few,  say  seven,  who  are  noted  medicine-men, 
having  pas.sed  through  the  eight  gratlos  of  medawe,  which  nuikes  them  high  priests, 
or  initiators.  They  are  (leenied  masters  of  their  religion  and  medicine.  As  priests 
they  have  no  recognized  authority  iu  the  councils  of  the  tribe.  The  older  chiefs  are 
])riests  at  the  same  time. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  the  great  Shawano  jtrophet,  brother  of  Tecumseh,  who 
caused  such  commotion  among  nearly  all  the  Western  and  Northern  tribes,  a  proi)het 
arose  among  the  ("liippewa.s  of  Lake  Sujyerior,  whos<!  creed  sj)read  like  wild-fire 
among  the  Pillagers.  Fiat-Mouth  himself,  who  Wiis  more  intelligent  than  the  gen- 
erality of  his  fellows,  believed,  and  even  acteil  iiis  a  messenger  for  the  prophet  to  the 


.:kM 


THE   TRIBES. 


313 


Britwh  Indians.     Tho  excitement,  however,  liico  that  caused  hy  the  Shawano,  soon 
died  away,  and  the  Indians  k  turned  to  their  old  custoins. 

The  Chippewas  of  Leeeli  Lake,  or  the  IlobberH,  as  tliey  are  often  called,  live 
much  on  islands  in  the  lake.  Their  country  is  the  region  of  the  lake.  They  have 
been  settled  there  froii  time  immemorial.  If  they  absent  theniiselves  for  weeks  or 
months,  tlu' .  always  return.  In  this  resj)ect  they  are  not,  perhaps,  more  nomadic 
than  the  whites,  who  travel  for  months  and  years  about  their  affairs.  The  Chip- 
pewtw  and  all  Indians  when  they  travel  take  with  them  their  house,  their  household 
goods,  and  their  family.  But  it  is  only  for  a  limited  time ;  they  return  to  their 
own  country  aa  soon  aa  they  can. 

MICniGAMIES. 

This  term  wius  applied  by  the  French  to  several  tribes  and  bands  of  Indians  of 
the  Algonkin  lineage,  wiio  clustered  around  the  borders  of  Lake  Michigan.  Tho 
lake  itself  takes  its  name  from  them,  being  a  compound  of  two  words  signifying 
"  great"  and  "  lake."  Of  these,  the  once  noted  Mascotins,  or  Fire-Indians,  have  dis- 
appeared. Of  the  several  bands  of  tiie  Illinese,  who  dwelt  around  the  head  of  the 
lake  and  extended  along  the  banks  of  the  Illinois  River,  the  country  has  long  been 
destitute  of  a  trace,  excej)t  in  those  works  of  defence  of  a  nomadic  and  predatory 
people  which  are  still  observed  in  tumuli,  ditches,  fortified  cliffs,  and  inaccessible 
defiles  which  they  were  expert  to  occupy.  Such  are  the  picturesque  features  of  the 
so-called  Staved  Rock.  Mount  Joliet,  though  of  artificial  construction,  possessed 
thos((  features  which  would  fit  it  for  mound  uses,  and  it  Wius  .mcc  doubtless  occupied 
in  this  way.  And  the  antiquary  may  take  a  melancholy  pleasure  in  seeking  out  the 
site  of  the  once  celebrated  works  of  French  military  occupation,  of  which  Fort 
Cn'vecu3ur  was  the  earliest  on  that  stream.  The  human  bone,  the  pipe,  ihe  stone 
ax(!  and  arrow-head,  which  are  turned  up  almost  every  sesison  by  the  plough,  servo 
to  recall  the  hunter-age  of  the  country,  and  the  history  of  a  people  who  are  exter- 
minated, or  have  followed  their  favorite  pursuits  in  regions  better  adapted  to  them. 
TlKHigh  the  Illinese  have  pa.ssed  from  their  am  ient  haunts,  some  of  i'".r  descend- 
ants are  yet  living  in  the  Peorias  and  the  Kaskaskias,  west  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
I'ous,  or  I'ottawatomies,  who  once  dwelt  on  the  islands  at  the  entrance  into  Green 
Bay,  and  who,  being  mixed  with  the  Chippewa.s  and  Ottawas,  once  made  Chicago 
the  central  i)()int  of  their  residence,  or  of  their  periodical  gatherings,  have  also  joined 
the  colonized  tribes  west.  The  Miamis,  dwelling  on  the  St.  Joseph  in  the  earlier 
days  of  La  Salle  and  the  missionary  fathers,  retired  to  the  Wabash  so  gradually  and 
iniperce])tibly  that  history  hardly  takes  any  notice  of  the  movement.  Several  bands 
of  the  Ottawas  and  Chippewas  remain. 

If  the  Indian  tribes  have  not  much  history,  they  are  not  deficient  in  a  species  of 

imagination,  and  where  there  is  little  or   no  tradition  they  frequently  cover  the 

deficiency  with  a  legend  or  an  allegory.     These  tales  do  not  often  agree,  as  the 

niirrator,  having  no  sure  Inuiis  of  fact,  usually  attempted  to  supi)ly  by  fancy  what  he 

coulil  not  obtain  from  memory. 

40 


ij  i 

U:  J : 

1^ 

':} 

^"^i 


-I   i 


314 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Tho  common  opinion  of  the  Cliippcwiw  in  timt  the  Indian  trilH-a  woro  created  i)y 
the  (Jrcat  Hpirit  on  the  IiukIh  wliich  tliey  oeenpy.  Tliere  is  a  diHerejmney  in  tho 
aceountH.  Some  nay  that  tlie  Oreat  Hpirit  ercated  one  man  and  one  woman  in  tlie 
hegiiining,  from  whom  all  the  Indianw  Hprung.  OtherH  Hay  (lod  made  one  pair  for 
each  distinct  triho,  and  gave  each  a  different  lang\uige.  The  dctailH  of  the  latter 
legend  are  as  folIowH.  This  continent  is  an  immense  island,  and  was  one  an  extended 
j)lain.  One  large  tree  was  created,  from  the  seeds  of  which,  carried  hy  tlie  winds, 
this  plain  was  in  time  covered  with  trees.  The  first  man  and  woman  created  wer»! 
called  8hah-wah-no,  and  were  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  island.  The  family  or 
trihe  of  the  Oshah-wah-nocs,  or  Oshah-wa-nog,  still  live  in  the  south,  and  have 
always  hccn  held  in  the  highest  respect  on  account  of  their  wise  and  peaceful  char- 
acter. The  next  pair  created  were  named  O-huh-ne-go.  The  exa(;t  location  in 
which  they  were  placed  is  not  known.  There  are  said  to  he  hands  of  the  Obunegos 
now  living  in  (^anada,  some  distance  up  the  river  Thames. 

The  next  pair  were  called  O-dah-wah,  to  whom  was  given  the  country  their 
descendants  still  occupy,  viz.,  the  peninsula  south  of  the  Straits  of  Michilimackinac. 
The  next  pair  were  called  O-jih-wa,  and  the  country  lying  north  of  the  Straits  of 
]\Iichilimackinae  was  given  to  them.  Some  of  the  Ojihwa  bands  occupy  part  of  the 
O-dah-wah  country  south  of  the  straits,  given  them  l»y  the  Odahwahs  to  settle  a 
difliculty  which  had  arisen  between  the  tribes.  These  biuids  occupy  (Jrand  Traverse 
Bay.  There  are  tribes  of  which  the  Chippewas  give  no  acc(mnt,  and  with  which 
they  do  not  acknowledge  any  relationship,  as  the  O-bwah-nug  or  Sicmx,  and  the 
Nah-dah-waig  or  lro(pinis. 

Those  Indians  who  hold  that  all  the  tribes  are  descended  from  one  pair,  say 
that  God  formed  the  man  with  red  clay,  and  gave  him  life,  and  then  formed  the 
woman.  He  next  made  all  manner  of  beasts  and  living  animals  for  the  use  of  the 
Indian,  which  would  be  food  for  him.  The  niiuster  of  life  and  the  Good  Spirit  saw 
that  the  Indian  needed  assistance  in  the  chase,  and  the  dog  was  given  to  him  that  he 
might  bark  and  find  game.  The  dog  was  not  created  here  on  earth,  but  was  formed 
in  heaven  and  sent  down  to  aid  the  Indian  in  the  chase;  the  master  of  life  gave  him 
power  to  scent,  and  spoke  to  him,  saying,  "  You  will  do  all  that  lies  in  your  power 
to  assist  and  be  faithful  to  the  Indian,  and  he  will  in  return  take  good  care  of  you, 
and  y(ai  will  increase  and  multiply  exceedingly,  but  the  Indian  will  have  power  to 
kill  you  and  offer  you  up  as  a  sacrifice;  not  that  I  need  u  sacrifice,  but  it  will  be 
habitual  for  him  to  do  so." 

Maiiabozho  was  called  at  this  time,  and  directed  to  give  names  to  all  tilings  living, 
and  to  trees  and  herbs,  which  were  created  for  the  use  of  the  Indian.  Corn  first 
grew  ill  heaven,  and  the  (Jood  Sjiirit  commanded  it  to  come  upon  earth,  but,  being  a 
sentient  being,  it  felt  reluctant  to  do  so,  and  the  GcMxl  Spirit  .said  to  the  corn,  "Go 
down  upon  earth  and  do  good  to  the  Indian,  and  he  will  do  good  to  ycai  in  return; 
the  Indian  will  kill  game  of  every  description,  and  season  ycai  with  all  mauuer  of 
meat;  this  will  afford  you  an  opjiortuuity  of  eating  the  same  food  with  the  Indian, 
while  V(ai  will  be  beneficial  to  him:"  so  corn  came  tlowu  from  heaven  to  benefit  the 


TUE  TitinEa. 


816 


Indian,  and  thirt  is  the  rtuiHon  why  they  oHteera  it,  and  are  l)ound  to  take  good  caro 
(»r  it,  and  to  nurture  it,  and  not  raiHc  more  than  tiiey  actually  reijuire  tor  tiieir  own 
conHuiuption. 

A  whole  town  of  the  Miuniia  were  neverely  punished  for  a  diwregard  of  this 
nde.  Tiiey  ruiHed  an  innuenHe  crop,  and  iiid  it  under  giiund,  and  paelicd  a  great 
(juantity  for  immediate  uhc  in  hagn ;  hut  tlie  crop  wuh  ho  j^rcat  that  many  ears  of 
corn  were  k'ft  on  the  HtallcH,  and  the  Miami  younj^  men  aixl  hovs  j^rew  rej^ardleH.s  of 
it,  HO  that  tiiey  commenced  playinj^  with  the  nhcllcd  colw,  throwiiif^  them  at  ono 
another,  and  finally  they  broke;  the  earH  on  the  Htalkn,  and  played  with  them  in  like 
manner  iw  with  the  cohs.  After  tluH  all  the  Miainin  made  preparations  to  (juit  tlutir 
villaj^e  in  order  to  spend  the  winter  where  game  wan  in  abundance.  Tliey  loaded 
their  canoes  with  corn,  and  moved  to  their  liunting-groundH  and  encamped.  All  the 
nu'U  who  were  capable  of  pursuing  game  went  out  to  hunt,  lus  deer  seemed  to  ab(uind. 
Jhit  when  they  returned  in  the  I'vening  they  brought  no  game,  and  these  hunting 
excursions  were  repeated  from  day  to  day  with  the  same  result. 

An  old  man  who  had  an  only  son  said  one  evening  to  him,  "  My  Hon,  I  feel 
hungry  for  meat  and  broth;  try  and  get  nie  some."  The  young  man  answered, 
"How  can  I  get  meat  for  ycni,  when  all  the  hunters  of  our  village;  cannot  kill  any 
deer,  although  it  is  ho  abundant?"  And,  indeed,  the  elders  of  every  family  had 
begun  to  fear  that  they  would  starve  to  death,  aa  their  supply  of  meat  was  now 
exhausted.  On  the  following  day  the  hunters  set  out  again,  and  the  old  man,  rising 
earlier  than  usual,  again  requested  his  s(m  to  try  to  bring  him  in  some  meat;  in  the 
mean  time,  he  added,  he  wcmld  request  some  of  the  men  who  were  going  to  g<t  corn, 
to  bring  in  some  for  them.  The  young  hunter  started  for  the  chase  in  obedience  to 
his  father's  will.  II<!  walked  all  day,  and  Haw  numerous  herds  of  deer,  but  could 
not  kill  any.  He  became  faint,  weak,  and  exhausted.  Wandering  he  knew  not 
whither,  he  suddenly  emerged  from  the  woods,  and  found  himself  on  the  borders  of 
ii  line  wide  stream.  At  some  distance  from  him  he  saw  smoke  issuing  from  a  small 
lodge,  and  on  reaching  it  he  peeped  cautiously  through  the  lodge  door,  saying  within 
himself,  "  I  will  encamp  here  for  the  night,  lus  I  feel  too  weak  and  exhausted  to  return 
home ;  and,  besides  this,  1  have  no  venison  to  carry  home  to  my  aged  father,  who  so 
anxieaisly  expects  some  from  me."  He  walked  into  the  lodge,  and  discovered  a  very 
aged  man  lying  on  one  side  t)f  it,  with  his  back  turned  to  the  fire.  The  old  man 
groaned,  and,  lifting  up  his  head,  turned  and  saw  the  young  hunter.  "Oh!  my 
grandfather,"  ejaculafed  the  young  hunter,  "  I  am  benighted,  faint,  weak,  and  hun- 
gry;  we,  the  people  of  our  village,  cannot  kill  any  game,  although  it  abounds  in  the 
plains  and  forests.  Our  peoi)le  are  nigh  starving.  We  have  eaten  up  all  our  corn, 
and  our  elders  have  sent  off  their  y<uuig  men  this  morning  to  our  summer  village  to 
bring  in  Hupjdii's  wbich  they  have  hidden  under  ground." 

The  decrepit  old  man,  who  was  a  nuigician  in  disguise,  replied,  "  My  grandson, 
the  Indians  have  afUicted  me  much,  and  reduced  me  to  the  condition  you  now  see  me 
in.  Look  to  this  side  of  the  lodge  and  you  will  lind  a  r.mall  kettle;  take  it,  eat,  and 
replenish  yourself,  and  when  you  have  satiHfied  your  hunger  I  will  speak  to  you." 


i*  ^il 


■^-♦l 


''V.M 


316 


rilE  INDIAN   TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


The  guest  found  the  kettle,  which  was  full  of  fine  sweet  corn,  superior  to  any  he 
hail  ever  eaten.  After  his  re])<ust  the  old  man  again  spoke  and  said,  "  Your  people 
have  wantonly  abused  nio  and  reduced  me  to  the  state  you  now  see  me  in ;  my  back- 
bone is  broken  in  many  places ;  it  is  the  foolish  young  men  and  boys  of  your 
town  that  have  dune  me  this  evil,  for  I  am  the  Mondamin,  or  corn,  that  came  down 
from  heaven.  They  played  und  threw  corn-cobs  and  corn-ears  at  one  another, 
thus  thinking  lighily  and  ccjutemjjtuously  of  me.  This  is  why  you  experience  bail 
luck  and  famine.  I  am  the  cause ;  you  feel  my  just  resentment,  and  thu."  your 
people  are  punished.  Tliis  is  an  injury  I  do  not  expciience  from  other  Indians ; 
tho.se  tribes  who  regard  me  are  well  at  present.  Have  yoii  no  old  men  in  your  town 
to  check  their  yciths  in  such  wanton  and  malicious  sport?  You  are  an  eye-wit.iess 
to  my  sullerings.  This  is  the  result  of  the  cruel  sjiort  you  have  had  with  my  body." 
The  ol  1  man  groaned  and  coveied  himself  up. 

The  young  hunter  ruse  early  ii>  the  morning,  and  on  his  return  howie  killed  a 
very  large,  fat  porcupine,  and  presented  it  to  his  father,  but  did  nut  itlate  anything 


concerning  his  adventure. 


The  party  tliat  \v;ts  sent  fur  corn,  on  arriving  at  the  Miami  town  and  opening 
their  corn-reposituries,  were  dismayeil  to  find  them  all  empty.  They  returned  to 
heir  temporary  Iiomes  exhausted  and  hungry,  and  they  were  so  reduced  that  they 
could  searcelv  raise  their  voices  to  tell  the  s.'id  tale. 

Tiie  young  visitor  to  the  lodge  of  the  corn-spirit  then  told  his  father  the  adven- 
ture he  had  had,  and  all  that  the  old  broken-backed  man  had  said  to  him.  Indii'.ns 
are  very  cautious,  and  do  not  now  i)lay  with  corn  in  the  ear  and  they  are  careful 
nut  to  break  the  ears  when  gathering  it.  Alter  the  harvest  is  over,  the  corn  returns 
to  heaven,  and  the  "ars  that  are  in  gooil  condition  come  back  ag.  'ii  the  next  spring 
upon  earth  if  the  Indian  who  raised  such  corn  paid  proj>er  attention  to  it.  Here 
ends  the  tale  of  Ogimawish,  one  of  the  old  sages  of  the  village  of  (Irand  Traverse 
Buy. 

The  Miehigamies  iiuld  the  Shawanoes  in  the  highest  respect,  as  their  traditions 
are  given  iiy  this  band,  and  as  it  is  believed  that  they  had  the  original  precedence 
among  all  the  tr.'bes.  It' any  tribe  has  the  right  to  call  general  councils,  it  should  be 
they.  They  received  from  Shawnee,  about  seventy  years  ago,  a  message  tor  a  great 
council  to  be  held  on  the  Wabash,  and  gladly  sent  delegates  to  attend  it.'  They  call 
the  Obui'.gos  (Jrandl'ather,  but  give  no  rea.son  why.  The  tSlmwanoes  are  ealhil 
Eldest  JJruther ;  the  ( Klawas,  Elder  IJroilier;  the  I'edadiiniies,  brother.  They  say 
that  these  terms  are  descriptive  of  the  relationship  in  which  they  have  been  placed 
to  one  anuther  by  the  Great  Hpirit. 

Eacii  clan  or  family  has  a  totem,  which  serves  to  keep  up  the  line  of  desceiU.-. 
This  is  (liirereiii  in  |)rinciplc  from  the  systt'in  of  gwardiaM  spirits.  Every  indiviiluai, 
male  and  female,  lias  one  ut  the  latter,  no  matter  what  ihc  lutem  may  lie.  Tttenis 
are  by  descent, — guardian  .spirits  by  ehuieti  or  ex[K'rience.     This  ex])erience  is  ehielly 


'  Tliis  was  cviilcnily  the  call  of  the  great  Sliuwaiid  pruplit't  in  IS12. 


?i:il 


THE   TRIBES. 


317 


sought  in  fasts  and  dreams,  o,  series  of  which  are  undertaken  for  this  purpose  at  the 
age  of  puherty.  The  fast  is  undertaken  to  prepare  the  body  for  the  dream.  These 
dreams  are  continued  until  some  beast  or  bird,  or  other  animate  object,  appears, 
which  is  fixed  on  as  the  guardian  spirit.  It  is  believed  that  this  spirit  leads  the  man 
safely  through  the  vicissitudes  of  life,  preserves  him  in  battle,  and  gives  him  success 
in  the  chase. 

With  the  rest  of  the  Algonkin  tribes,  they  believe  in  magic,  witchcraft,  sorcery, 
and  the  power  and  influence  of  minor  monedoes,  as  well  as  one  great  ruling  good 
monedo  and  one  great  counteracting  bad  monedo.  Like  those  tribes,  too,  they  are 
under  the  direction  of  their  forest-priests,  niedas,  prophets,  and  medicine-men ;  for 
with  them  medicine  is  generally  connected  with  necromancy,  incantations,  and  songs. 
The  ties  of  consanguinity  are  apparently  mi  lield  with  a  good  deal  of  strength.  Mar- 
riage is  observed  in  a  manner  which  is  beneficial  to  the  Indian  state  of  society. 
Polygamy  has  been  for  years  almost  unknown  in  their  villages.  Children  are  loved, 
and  wives,  in  general,  well  treated.  The  greatest  evils  known  have  resulted  hereto- 
fore from  intemperance,  but  this  is  greatly  abated.  The  tribe  has  been  under 
teachers  since  \KV.).  iSchools  are  kept  under  the  care  of  efficient  instructors,  tiy 
whom  the  children  are  brought  forward  in  the  elements  of  knowledge,  civilization, 
and  Christianity.  Farming  and  some  of  the  mechanic  arts  have  been  taught.  They 
dress  in  some  measure  after  the  civilized  costume,  and  wear  hats  and  shoes.  Their 
houses  are  small  tenements  of  logs.  They  split  rails,  and  put  up  their  own  fences. 
A  limited  number  of  the  adults  are  united  in  the  obligations  of  church-fellowshij), 
umder  the  care  of  a  regular  j)astor.  Temj)erance,  industry,  and  morals  thus  go  hand 
in  hand,  and,  notwitlistandiiig  some  adverse  circumstances,  their  prospects  are  such 
ius  to  inspire  brigiit  li()|>es  for  their  advance. 

Their  jircsent  condition  is  as  follows.  For  the  Chipi)ewas  of  Minnesota  three 
reservations  have  been  set  apart, — the  White  Earth  Ileserve,  containing  thirty-six 
sipuire  mill's  of  the  best  fiirming-laad  in  Minnesota;  the  lied  Lake  Keserve,  and 
tlie  ijcech  Lake  Rt-scrve.  The  three  tliousand  Indians  at  Wi;ite  Earth  and  Ked 
Lake  are  practically  self-supporting;  nearly  all  at  Whites  Earth  w  ar  citizens'  dress, 
live  in  houses,  send  their  children  to  school,  and  lead  a  (luiet,  industrious  life. 
The  Red  Lake  Indians  have  for  many  years  taken  care  of  themselves,  and  are 
sluwly  and  steadily  advancing  to  the  degree  of  civilization  which  the  White  Earth 
Indians  were  enabled  to  reach  in  a  few  years  by  liberal  appropriations  fn an  Con- 
gress. Tlu!  only  hope  for  the  Pillagers  of  Leech  Lake  lies  in  their  removal  to 
White  Earth.  A  l)ill  to  effect  this  is  now  pending  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  It  also  providi's  for  the  remov.d  to  White  Earth  of  the  Chippewas  at  White 
Oak  Point,  at  Mille  Lacs,  and  Snake  River,  all  of  whom  are  from  close  contact  with 
the  whites  wretched,  poverty-stricken,  drunken,  debauched,  and  diseased  almost  past 
iiope. 

The  La  Pointe  Agency,  at  liaylield,  Wisconsin,  opposite  La  Pointc,  includes  in 
its  boundaries  seven  dilVerent  rescrsations,  four  in  Wisconsin  and  three  in  Minne- 
sota, with  a  population  of  three  thiaisand.     The  Red  ClilV  l)an(ls  live  in  houses,  dress 


rii 


m 


;1     il 


318 


rilE  INDIAN   TRIBES  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


like  wliitos,  aro  prosjicroua,  ami  in  the  jiulgmciit  of  their  agent  hIiouIcI  be  made 
citizens,  'i'he  lied  Jiivc"  hands,  located  in  Ashland  Connty,  Wiseonsin,  are  next  to 
those  of  Red  C'litf  in  Mie  scale  of  civilizati(in.  Tliey  are  gradually  giving  up  their 
old  habits,  und  their  progress  is  steady  and  healthy.  The  Fond  dn  Lac  bandt), 
located  on  a  reservation  about  tiiirty-iive  miles  from  Duluth,  8t.  Louis  County,  Min- 
nesota, come  next.  The  young  people  make  their  living  by  work  in  the  woods, 
logging-camps,  and  saw-mills.  The  Lac  ('(mrte-Oreille  bands  occupy  a  reservation 
of  sixty-nine  thousand  one  hundred  and  tliirty-six  acres.  Two  hundred  and  five 
allotments  of  eighty  acres  each  have  been  made  to  these  Indians.  The  Grand 
I'ortag*!  bands  have  fifty-one  thousand  eight  hundred  ami  for.y  acres  in  Cook 
County,  Minnesota,  and  are  next  in  rank.  As  their  land  is  unfit  for  cultivation,  the 
elder  Indians  hunt  and  fish,  the  young  men  earning  a  living  by  various  laboi"s.  Tlie 
JiUc  de  Flambeau  bands  have  sixty-nine  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-four 
acres  in  Lincoln  County,  Wisconsin,  and  the  JJois  Forte  bands  one  hundred  and 
seven  thousand  live  hundred  and  nine  acres  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  northwest 
of  tin'  agency,  "out  of  reach  and  good  for  nothing."  Few  of  these  Lidians  live  on 
the  reserve:  they  have  scattered  over  N'ortiieru  iMiuiu'sota  and  into  Canada.  Those 
at  Vi'rniillion  l^ake  are  the  most  prosperous.  The  moral  condition  of  tiie  Indians 
of  this  agency  has  been  di'ciilediy  improved,  according  to  the  latest  report  of  their 
agent. 

The  ten  thousand  Chi|>pcwas  and  Ottawas  of  Michigan,  at  the  Mackinac  agency, 
are  indigenous  to  the  country,  have  aiiopted  the  dress  and  habits  of  the  white  man, 
and  are  making  gratifying  progress  in  farming,  though  a  large  number  of  the  young 

naviiration,  and  various  other  industries. 


nun  arc  cni|iioye(l  m   luniiicr-camps,  nii 


11.^ 


The  sdiools  arc  succi's>i'ul,  and  tiic  Indians  arc  biroming  more  aiid  more  inijtressed 
with  the  importance  of  education  as  a  means  of  sncci'ss  in  life.  They  have,  with 
few  exceptions,  been  allotted  lands  under  treaty  provisions,  for  which  they  havo 
received  pati'Uts,  and  are  now  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  benefits  of  citizens  of 
the  United  States.  The  L'Anse  band  belong  with  the  other  bands  of  Chippewas  of 
Lake  Superior.  Their  reservation,  of  forty-eight  tlnaisand  three  humlred  acres,  is  in 
the  extreme  northern  part  of  the  State,  bordering  on   that    lake.     They  depend  for 


suosistence  mostly  upon  Inintingand  lishiti 


d  fish 


MAscorrNs. 


The  traditions  of  the  Ottawas  and  Chippewas  re|iresent  their  tribes  as  coming  into 
liostile  collision  at  first,  as  a  nation,  with  a  j)eople  who  appear  to  have  been  their  pre- 
deces.sors  on  the  lakes.  They  encountered  them  on  the  inner  shores  of  the  island 
of  Fortagunasee,'  and  on  the  narrow  peninsula  of  Point  Detitnr,  Lake  Huron  (the 
western  cape  of  the  entrance  into  the  Straits  of  St,  Mary's),  fought  and  defeated 
them  at  thn'c  several  places,  and  drove  them  west.     To  this  primitive  peojtle,  who 


Lutlcrly  known  ll^<  Druniiuond  Inlunil. 


•*■ 


THE   TRIBES. 


319 


ni)pear  to  Imve  ruled  in  the  region  about  Mioliiliinackinac,  they  gave  the  name  of 
Muslikodains,  or  Little  I'rairie  IndiauH.  Cluiseo,  an  aged  Ottawa  jossakeed  of 
Michiliniaekinac,  invariably  used  the  word  in  its  diminutive  and  plural  forms, 
namely,  MuHh-ko-daiiiH-ug,  that  is  to  say.  People  of  the  Little  Prairie.  lie  spoke 
of  them  an  the  people  whom  the  Algonkins  drove  off,  and  he  invariably  referred 
to  them  when  (piestiomsd  about  ancient  bones  and  oaves  in  the  region  of  Michili- 
maekinac.  They  had  magicians  for  their  leadi-rs.  Their  war-captain  escaped,  the 
tradition  says,  underground,  in  the  battle  at  Point  Detour.  They  fled  on  this  occasion 
u[)  the  coast  to  Michiliniaekinac,  and  so  by  degrees  along  the  eastern  shores  of  Lake 
Michigan,  whence  traditions  follow  them  as  far  south  as  the  Washtenong,  called 
(Irand  River  by  the  French.  These  Muslikodains  are  re[)resented  by  the  Ottawas 
and  (^hippewa-s  ius  powerful  and  subtle  and  excelling  themselves  in  art«  and  necro- 
mancy. They  deposited  the  human  bones,  Chusco  said,  found  in  caves  at  Michili- 
mackiuac.  They  are  tlu;  authors  of  the  trenches  lilled  with  human  bones  on  Menissing 
or  Round  Island,  in  Lake  Huron.  The  Ottawas  attribute  to  them  the  small  mounds 
and  the  old  ganlcn-beds  in  Grand  River  Valley  and  at  other  places,  and,  in  short, 
point  to  them  for  whati^ver  they  cannot  explain  or  account  ibr  in  the  antiquities  of 
the  country.  Who  these  Little  Prairie  or  Fin^  Indians  were  is  uncertain.  May 
not  we  regard  them  ius  the  lost  Mascot  ins  of  the  early  French  writers?  Were  they 
not  contemporary  in  the  lakes  with  the  Assigunaigs,  or  Roue  Indians,  spoken  of  by 
the  Western  and  Lake  tribes? 

No  rciLsonable  doubt  can  exist  <»n  this  subject.  They  are  nanu's  ever  in  the 
iuregruund  of  Algoukin  history,  and  these  people"  appear  to  have  fought  for  the 
pos.session  of  the  Lake  country.  l{y  them  the  ancient  ossuaries  were  |irobably  con- 
strucletl,  and  in  Mr.  Schoolcral't's  jiidginent  they  w(  re  the  nations  who  worked  the 
iiiifient  copper-mines  on  liake  Superior.  They  a|.pear  to  have  jtassed  south  by  the 
|)resent  sites  of  (irand  River  and  ('hicago. 

The  similarity  of  the  ground-form  of  the  rames  for  prairie  and  fire  may  Jiavo 
led  to  confusion  in  tlir  minds  of  writers.  Miishroos!  is  grass  or  herbage  in  gerxTid. 
Ishhnibi  means  lire.     The  only  dill'erence  in  the  root-form  is  that  between  usklcu  and 

Algonkin  tradition,  as  given  by  the  Ottawa  chief  Ke-wa-goosh-kum  in  1821, 
rcjiresi  iits  the  separation  of  the  Chippewas,  Ottawas,  and  Pottawatomies  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  vicinity  of  .Micliiliiuackinac.  Ohusco,  the  jossakeed  above  men- 
tioned, who  die(l  in  IHIW,  spoke  of  the  Ottawas,  with  pardonable  vanity,  as  the  most 
valiant  trilu'  in  the  war  against  .he  Prairians  or  Muskoda  men.  Islupiagonabi,  chief 
ol'  the  Chippewas  on  (Jrand  Travi'rse  Ray,  a  man  well  versed  in  these  traditions, 
speaks  of  the  war  as  having  been  carried  on  by  the  Chippewas  and  Ottawas,  and  in 
this  manner  he  accounts  for  the  fact  that  villages  of  Chii)pewiis  and  Ottawas  alter- 
nate at  this  day  on  the  eastern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan.  Ossigenac.  an  Ottawa 
chief  of  note  of  Penetanguishene,  says  that  the  Ottawas  went  at  (Irst  to  live  among 
the  men  calh'd  the  Pottawatomies,  alxait  the  southern  shores  or  head  of  Lake  Mich- 
igan ;  but  the  latter  used  bad  medicine,  ami  when  com[>lained  of  for  their  necnmiancy 


1 

;; 

;■'  j 

;■  , 

r 

! 

5. 

,■..1 

! 
1 

i 

! 
.   '1 

:.  ■  :t 

i 

■    i 

■ 
;■  ■■■ 

820 


TIIK  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


they  told  the  Ottawas  they  n.ight  go  back  to>vards  the  north  if  they  did  not  like  them : 
they  luid  made  a  fire  for  themselves.* 

The  earlier  French  writers,  when  acquainted  with  the  Hurons  in  Upper  Canada, 
menLioii  the  Assistaeronons,  which  in  the  Huron  tongue  means  Fire-Nation.  They 
were  at  war  with  the  Ottawas,  or  Cheveux-relevez,  the  latter  being  supported  by  the 
Neutral  Nation.  Sagard  represents  them  iis  trading  over  a  distance  of  five  hundred 
leagues,  and  as  dwelling  nine  or  ten  days'  canoe-journey  (about  two  hundred  leagues) 
beyond  the  Ottawas.  The  latter  are  placed  in  Manitoulin  at  that  epoch.  Cham- 
plain,  in  his  map  of  1632,  seems  to  i)lace  them  south  of  Lake  Huron,  but  this  is  not 
clear. 

In  I(]o9-G0  a  nation  is  mentioned  under  the  name  of  Ontonagannha,  or  Fire- 
Nation,  but  the  former  epithet  is  an  Iroquois  term  for  those  who  did  not  speak  their 
language.  Tlie  first  European  who  has  recorded  a  visit  to  them  is  Father  Claudius 
Allouez.  He  found  tlie  Mascotins  on  the  Wisconsin  Kiver,  and  in  the  following  year 
exjiressly  states  that  they  are  the  tribe  formerly  called  by  the  Hurons  Assistaeronons, 
or  Fire-Nation.  Whether  Mascotins  had  the  same  meaning  he  does  not  state. 
Maniuette,  the  next  to  visit  them,  s])eaks  in  doubt:  "It  may  mean  fire."  Dablon 
subse(jiiently  treats  this  a.s  an  error,  and  gives  "2)rairie"  as  the  meaning  of  Ma.scotins. 
In  this  he  is  followed  by  Charhtvoix,  and  confirmed  by  Schoolcraft.  As  to  situation, 
Manjuettc,  in  1073,  found  them  mingled  with  Miamis  i'iid  Kickapoos,  on  the  head- 
waters of  Fox  River,  near  the  portage.  Hennepin  places  .hem,  in  1080,  with  the 
Miamis  and  Foxes,  on  Winnebiigo  Lake;  though  Membre,  at  the  same  time,  places 
them  with  the  Foxes  on  Melleoki  (Milwaukee)  Kiver,  about  43°  N. 

In  1712,  Fatiier  Marest  writes  that  a  short  time  l)efore  the  Mascotins  had  formed 
a  settlement  on  the  Ohio  (Ouai)aclu'),  Ijut  that  it  had  greatly  sull'ered  from  contagious 
disorders. 

In  lilt'  same  year  tlic  ii|i|ier  ]\Iascotins,  togetlier  with  the  Kickapoos,  joined  the 
Foxes  in  their  plot  against  tiic  French;  but  tiiey  were  surprised  by  the  Ottawas  and 
Pdttawatomies,  and  one  hundred  and  lifty  were  cut  to  pieces.  They  probably  suffered 
still  more  in  the  ultimate  defeat  of  that  nation. 

A  few  years  later,  in  1730,  a  list  in  .'lie  Paris  Documents  reckons  the  Wolf  and 
Stag  tiibe.s  of  the  Maseotiris  .;u  Fox  liiver  at  sixty  men,  but  is  silent  as  to  any  on 
the  Ohio,  in  Sir  William  .Johnson's  list,  1704,  in  the  same  volume  of  the  Uoen- 
mentary  History,  no  allusion  is  made  to  them;  but  Bouipiet,  in  1701,  jMits  them 
down  at  live  hundred  on  \,\\\n'  Michigan  ;  and  Ilutchins,  in  170S,  imdudes  them 
with  other  tribes  in  a  pretty  high  estimate.  This  is  the  last  mention  of  the  Masco- 
tins of  Wi.-eonsiii.  In  June,  17t)"),  (.Colonel  Croghan  was  attacked  near  the  Wabajih 
by  eiglity  Indians,  cliieily  Kickapoos  and  Mascotins. 

Under  the  name  of  Meadow  Indians,  we  next  find  the  Mascotins  mentioned  in 
Colonel  (.'lark's  journal.     During  a  council  held  by  that  officer  at  Cuhokia,  in  1777, 


'  Till!  woi'l  l'uin»wiiti)iuic8  iui.;iiis  in:iiwir.i  of  lire, — ii  symliulii;  jihruou  by  wlii'  ii  Is  lucnlit  thuy  wliu  lussuiiii! 
Bcpa.Mto  m)Vfrii:;iily  liy  building  a  ciiuucil  firo  lor  tbt'iiwelvfu. 


THE  TRIBES. 


321 


;  them : 

Canada, 
They 
1  by  the 
lundred 
leagues) 
Cham- 
lia  is  not 

or  Fire- 
3ak  their 
ChiudiuB 
ving  year 
leronoiiK, 
lot  state. 
Dablon 
laseotins. 
situation, 
the  head- 
with  the 
me,  phices 

ad  formed 
contagious 

ouied  the 
aw  as  ami 
sulVori'il 

Wolf  and 
to  any  <>ii 
('  Doeu- 
uts  them 
dcs  tlii'iii 
(■  Masco- 
if  Wabajih 


til 


itiont'd  in 
I.  in  1777, 


uy  who  a.-'sumu 


a  party  of  this  tribe  attempted  to  cut  him  off  by  treachery,  but  were  foiled,  and  Clark 
availed  himself  of  their  defeat  to  acquire  a  complete  mastery  over  them.  The  last 
mention  found  of  this  part  of  the  tribe  is  in  1779,  when  Dodge  estimates  the  Mas- 
cotins  on  the  Wabash,  with  the  Piankeshawd  and  Vermilions,  at  eight  hundred. 

As  will  be  seen,  they  seldom  appear  alone,  Idt  almost  always  in  connection  with 
tlieir  kindred,  the  Outagamies  or  Foxes,  and  the  Kickapoos,  and  like  them  bear  a 
character  for  treachery  and  deceit.  Tlte  three  tribes  may  in  earlier  days  have  formed 
the  Fire-Nation,  but,  as  Gallatin  observes  in  the  "  Archajologia  Americanf., '  it  is  very 
doubtful  whether  the  Mascotins  were  ever  a  distinct  tribe.  If  they  were  not,  the 
(lisai)pearance  of  the  name  will  not  be  strange.  The  Mascotins  in  Illinois  were 
mixed  with  the  Kickapoos,  and  at  last  confounded  with  them.  The  latter  alone  are 
mentioned  in  late  accounts,  a-  d  yet  seem  to  be  in  the  same  location  as  the  Mascotins. 

The  upper  section  were,  in  all  probability,  similarly  absorbed  in  the  Foxes  after 
the  French  war  on  that  tribe. 


SHAWNEES   on   SIIAWAXOES. 

This  tribe, — the  Chaouanons  of  the  French, — a  bold,  roving,  and  adventurous  body 
of  men,  at  an  early  period  occupied  the  Ohio  Valley.  Driven  south  by  the  Iroquois, 
tiiey  shared  in  the  defeat  of  the  Andastes,  and  about  1G72  Hed,  some  to  the  Lena])c, 
others  into  the  Carolina^  and  Florida,  spreading  northward  as  far  as  New  York. 
Again  encountering  the  Inxpiois,  they  were  driven  to  Ohio,  where  they  were  after- 
wards joined  by  the  refugees  from  the  Lenape.  They  joined  Pontiac,  exhibited  the 
most  determined  bravery  in  the  severe  contest  with  the  Virginians  in  the  battle  of 
Point  Pleasant  in  1774,  fought  under  the  English  Hag  in  177(!,  and  were  brought 
to  icrnis  by  (Joneral  Wayne  in  171)4.  They  suH'ered  severely  during  the  civil  war, 
tlicir  country  being  devasUited  by  both  armies. 

At  an  early  day  the  head  of  the  Kentucky  River  became  a  favorite  and  important 
point  of  eniimrkation  for  Indians  moving  in  predatory  or  hunting  bands  from  the 
.-onth  to  the  luu'th  and  west.  The  Shawnees,  after  their  great  defeat  by  the  C'lier- 
okees,  took  that  route,  and  this  people  always  considered  themselves  to  have  claims 
to  these  attractive  hunting-grounds,  where  the  deer,  the  elk,  the  buffalo,  and  the  bear 
iiiionnded. 

A  discontented  portion  of  the  Shawnee  tribe,  from  Virginia,  broke  off  from  the 
niition,  which  removed  to  the  Scioto  country,  in  Ohio,  about  the  year  \1'.)0,  and 
i'ormed  a  town,  known  by  the  name  of  Lulbegrud,  in  what  is  now  Clark  County, 
aiiont  thirty  miles  east  of  Lexington,  Kentucky.  Thi.-.  tribe  left  this  country  ;'i(uit 
17"»0,  and  went  to  Fast  Tennessee,  to  the  Cherokee  Natiim.  Soon  after  they  retiMiied 
to  Ohio  and  joined  the  rest  of  the  nation,  after  spending  a  few  years  on  the  Ohio 
River,  giving  name  to  Shawnee  Town,  in  the  State  of  Illinois. 

in  LSoL'  they  were  si  (tied  on  a  line  n'seivatiitn  on  'he  sonth  side  of  the  Kansas 
Iviver,  containing  twenty-live  hundreil  square  miles.  AtU'r  forty  years'  residence 
iiiTe,  tliey  were  torced  to  leave  tlicir  well-cultivated  farms  and  comfortable  residenees 

•11 


n"-s'i? 


U  v| 


322 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


to  make  a  new  home  for  themselves  in  tlie  Indian  Territory.  This  is  at  the  Quiipaw 
Reservation,  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  Territory,  one  of  the  gar(len-82)ot«  of  the 
United  States.  The  Shawnees  are  orderly  and  temperate,  j)unctual  and  honest  in 
their  dealings.  They  are  proud  of  having  one  of  the  best  manual-labor  schools  in 
the  country,  and  their  children  are  being  rapidly  educated  and  civilized.  The  great 
Tccumseh  was  a  member  of  this  tribe.  Logan,  whose  pathetic  speech  has  been  made 
a  classic  by  Jeiferson,  was  by  birth  a  Shawnee. 

The  "  Absentee"  Shawnees,  numbering  six  hundred  and  sixty,  separated  about 
forty  years  ago  from  the  main  tribe,  then  located  in  Kansas,  and  settled  in  the  Indian 
Territory,  on  the  l*ottawatomio  Reservation,  where  they  engaged  in  farming,  and 
have  since  supported  themselves  without  aid  from  the  government. 

BROTHERTONS. 

This  was  a  tribe  which  was  formed  in  Western  New  York  on  the  basis  of 
Mohican  emigrants  who  followed  the  Rev.  Mr.  Occum  from  Connecticut,  and  were 
Joined  by  certain  Nanticokes,  etc.  A  grant  of  land  was  made  to  them  by  tlie 
Oneidas,  who  had  previously  received  the  Stockbridges  from  the  banks  of  the  Housii- 
tonic,  in  Massachusetts.  Occum  had  visited  England,  and  was  instrumental  in 
obtaining  the  large  donations  which  served  to  organize  Dartmouth  Oollege.  His 
little  colony  was  joined  by  other  members  of  affiliated  tribes,  who  in  the  end  dropped 
their  several  dialects  and  assumed  the  English  language  alone.  Tiiey  migrated  to 
Wisconsin  after  1820,  where  they  occupy  one  entire  township  of  fertile  land  on  the 
east  banks  of  Winnebago  Lake,  Calumet  County.  They  raise  cattle  and  grain,  and 
exhibit  all  the  essential  characteristics  of  a  civilized  community. 

Rev.  Samson  Occum,  a  Mohican,  the  first  pu])il  who,  about  the  middle  of  tlio 
eighteenth  century,  attended  Mr.  ^Vheelock's  school  for  Indian  youth,  at  Lebanon, 
received  there  the  rudiments  of  a  good  English  education.  lie  lived  in  Mr.  Wheel- 
ock's  family,  and  was  conlirine<l  in  the  principles  of  Christianity,  which  he  had 
before  eml)raced.  ile  was  baptized  by  the  name  of  Samson,  agreeably  to  the  (juaint 
taste  of  the  Puritan  clergy  for  names  from  the  Old  Testament,  as  if  he  were  expected 
to  pull  down  till'  strongholds  of  Satan.  Evincing  steady  moral  habits  and  assiduity 
ill  bis  stinlies  and  deportment,  he  was  prepared  to  go  out  as  a  teacher  and  evangelist 
among  his  countrymen, — a  labor  which  he  first  l)egan  in  Suffolk  County,  on  Jjong 
Island,  where  alliliated  bands  of  this  stock  resided.  He  kept  a  school  for  the  band 
at  Montaiik  for  some  years.  He  was  afterwards  ordained  by  the  I'resbyterv  to 
preach  the  gospel,  and  l>e<'ame  an  el.ieient  means  of  introducing  Christianity  to  the 
Indian  bands  liK-iMcd  at  separate  places  in  New  England  and  New  York.  He  was 
jiroiii>une»'|  to  lie  an  excellent  pieaclier  in  his  native  tongue,  and  judged  to  1)0 
jieculiarly  fitted  \n  teach  and  edify  his  Indian  liretliren,  who,  when  lliey  belield  one 
of  their  <wn  ninnlier,  speaking  their  own  language,  and  (eaehing  the  same  truths 
which  they  liwcj  listened  to  doiilitingly  from  the  white  man'H  lips,  were  disarmed  of 
their  oj"!"       t    i.      I  le  (il-i>  pieaehed  to  Knglish  eongiegatioiis  at  New  York,  lloslcai, 


uapaw 
of  the 
lest  in 
ools  in 
e  great 
a  made 

I  abont 
Indian 
ng,  and 


basis  of 
md  were 

by  the 
B  Housa- 
lental  in 
ge.     His 

dropped 
grated  to 
ul  on  tlie 
,rain,  and 

e  of  the 
^ebanon, 
Wheel- 
he  hiid 
le  (luaiut 
X  peeled 
issiduity 
vangelifit 
)n  JiOiig 
the  l>an(l 
ytery  to 
ty  to  tlie 
He  was 
^(■d  to  Ik? 
lu'ld  one 
lie  truths 
anni'd  of 
lloHlon, 


<.(?••.?  .fj    ;rV"tV..'iM 


"Wt^^V** 


TUE  TRIBES. 


323 


and  other  populous  places,  where  he  attracted  attention,  and  he  became  instrumental 
in  the  general  conversion  of  the  Indian  race. 

Occum  was  the  first  Indian  preacher  who  ever  visited  England.  This  visit 
occurred  in  parts  of  the  years  1755-50,  when  he  took  passage  for  Loudon,  in  com- 
pany with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitaker,  in  order,  by  personal  appeals,  to  solicit  funds  for 
the  support  of  Mr.  Wheelock's  Indian  school.  The  mission  was  eminently  suc- 
cessful. The  spectacle  of  a  Mohican  holding  forth  in  a  London  chapel,  with  his 
peculiar  physiognomy  and  manner,  created  a  deep  sensation,  iind  he  was  listened  to 
with  the  same  curiosity  in  the  interior  towns.  The  result  was  a  substantial  contri- 
bution for  Mr.  Wheelock's  school,  and  the  creation  of  an  interest  in  England  in 
Western  education,  which  is  understood  to  have  been  one  of  the  inducements  that 
led  to  the  granting  of  a  royal  charter  for  Dartmouth  College,  one  of  the  fundamental 
endowments  of  which  embraces  the  education  of  Indian  youth. 

"Occum  was  looked  upon,"  observes  the  historian  Sparks,  "as  a  wonder  in  Eng- 
land. Wherever  he  went,  crowds  gathered  around  him,  and  it  has  been  the  lot  of 
few  speakers  to  address  audiences  so  large.  A  North  American  Indian  in  a  pulpit, 
eloquently  preaching  the  English  tongue,  was  a  phenomenon  too  nearly  miraculous 
to  pass  unseen  or  unheard.  It  was  said,  moreover,  that  he  exhibited  in  his  person 
and  character  a  practical  example  of  what  might  be  done  with  Indians  when  fairly 
brought  under  the  influence  of  instruction.  All  this  was  highly  favorable  to  the 
groat  ends  of  the  mission,  and  in  a  few  months  a  subscription  was  obtained  and 
money  paid  to  the  amount  of  nearly  ten  thousand  pounds.  The  king  (George  II.) 
gave  two  hundred  pounds,  and  several  gentlemen  one  hundred  pounds  each.  The 
money  wius  deposited  in  the  hands  of  trustees  in  England,  and  drawn  out  as  occasion 
required.  With  this  addition  to  his  resources,  Dr.  Wbeelock  began  to  think  of 
enlarging  the  plan  of  his  school,  and  removing  nearer  to  the  frontiers,  both  to 
diminish  the  expense  of  living  and  to  be  near  the  Indians.  After  examining  several 
situations,  he  selected  Hanover,  then  almost  a  wilderness,  to  which  place  he  removed 
in  1770,  cut  away  the  trees,  and  erected  the  institution,  which  he  tailed  Dartmouth 
(Jollege,  in  honor  of  Lord  Dartmouth,  who  had  manifested  great  zeal  and  liberality 
in  collecting  the  Indian  fund  in  England." 

About  1780,  Mr.  Occum  went  to  the  country  of  the  Oneidas,  in  Western  New 
York,  taking  with  him  several  Indians  of  kindred  blood,  who  clung  to  him  as  their 
loader.  lie  obtuiued  u  cession  of  fertile  land  from  the  Oneida  tribe,  which  booaino 
a  i)lace  of  refuge  of  the  Indians,  chiefly  of  the  Mohicans  of  the  sea-coiists  of  New 
England,  and  a  few  Nanticokes,  Narragansetts,  and  Pequots.  Differences  existing 
in  their  dialects,  they  agreed  to  drop  the  native  language  altogether  and  adopt  the 
English,  taking  the  name  of  Brothertons.  Mr.  Occum  was  their  first  pastor,  and 
continued  to  devote  himself  to  their  interests  till  age  incapacitated  him,  and  younger 
liil)()rors  stopi)e(l  in.  During  his  old  age  he  went  to  live  with  the  Massachusetts 
Alohioans,  who  were  settled  at  New  Stookbridge,  in  the  Oneida  Crook  Valley,  where 
he  died  in  July,  17U2.  Ilis  ago,  judging  from  the  period  of  his  life  at  which  he 
probably  went  on  the  mission  to  England,  was  about  sixty-six. 


i 


'  i  I 


^ 


^m 


324 


Tin:  INDIAN  TlilBKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


It  Ih  cxprc'Hsly  stated  by  tlic  New  Eiijfliiiul  clergy,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for 
tlii'se  iiotii'OH,  that  \m  Christian  and  ministerial  ciiaraeter  was  well  approved,  and 
that  he  was  deemed  to  possess  a  peculiar  fluency  and  aptness  in  teaching  the  Indians, 
over  whom  he  exercised  a  happy  inlluence.  The  foundation  of  the  tribe  of  tiio 
IJrothertons  is  a  work  due  to  his  enterprise,  foresight,  and  zeal.  It  \»  to  his  educa- 
tion and  his  knowledge,  so  far  lus  it  went,  of  English  literature,  that  we  nnist  ascribe 
the  wise  advice  to  the  Mohican  refugees  to  drop  their  own  and  adopt  the  English  lan- 
guage. For  it  is  the  result  of  the  most  obvious  principles  that  it  is  easier  to  acquire 
a  new  language  which  has  a  literature,  than  to  create  ii  literature  (antl  that  by  mere 
translations)  for  a  barbarous  language. 

The  i)ractical  working  of  this  new  plan  of  organization  for  an  Indian  community 
whose  institutions  had  melted  away  before  the  power  of  civilizaticm  was  excellent. 
Tlii^  Urothertitns  continued  to  dwell  together  at  their  first  location  in  Oneida  County 
till  they  had  well  adviinced  in  elementary  education  and  the  arts.  At  this  period  of 
their  history  they  sent  delegates  to  Wisconsin  to  procure  a  cession  of  territory  from 
the  indigenous  Indians  of  Fox  Iliver  of  that  State,  on  the  borders  of  Wiimebago 
Lake.  Having  ilisposed  of  their  j)ossessions  in  Oneida  County,  they  in  due  time 
migrated  to  that  location,  where  they  now  reside.  ]{y  an  Act  of  Congress  the 
JJnttJiertons  of  Wisconsin  were  admitted  to  all  the  rights  of  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  They  were  also  admitted,  by  a  State  act,  to  the  rightn  of  citizens  of  Wis- 
consin. The  pr(ii)li'm  of  their  triple  emancipation  from  barbarism,  idleness,  and 
political  disfranchisement  is  thus  comjiletely  worked  out,  and  worked  out  in  a  prac- 
tical way,  in  which  the  experience  and  wis(h)m  of  Oceum  and  his  clerical  teachers 
of  the  olden  tin>e  had  predicted  it  could  only  be  done.' 

CIIEYENNES   AND    AUAI'AUOES. 

These  tribes,  to  the  nundn'r  of  about  six  thousand,  occupy  a  large  reservation  in 
the  western  portion  of  the  Indian  Territory.  While  the  Northern  Cheyennes,  under 
Little  Cliii'f,  make  no  concessions  to  civilization,  refusing  even  to  jH'rmit  their  children 
to  attend  school,  the  Southern  Cheyennes  and  the  Arapalioes  engage  in  every  kind 
of  remunerative  labor.  The  Arapalioes  have  shown  more  interest  and  perseverance 
in  farming  than  the  Cheyennes. 

The  Arapalioes  ("pricked  or  tattooed  peo[)le")  formerly  roved  over  the  ceiitnil 
plains  between  the  Platte  and  Arkansas  Ilivers.  They  are  a  part  of  the  Atsina  or 
Fall  Indians,  of  the  iJlackfeet  stock.  They  are  warlike  and  pn-datory.  With  tlu'ir 
friends  the  Cheyennes  and  the  Sioux,  they  have  continually  warred  upon  the  Utes. 
From  time  to  time  they  have  made  raids  upon  the  Ixtrder  white  s<'ttlement4.  The 
Northern  bands  are  on  the  Shoshone  Reservation  in  Wyomuig. 


'  It  is  stalcil  (hilt  tlio  nuiiiIxT  of  this  trilic  wiis  two  liiinilrcd  and  fifly  in  1701  ;  only  fivi'  yciirH  iifliT 
which  it  was  ri'iinLcd,  |iriiliiil)ly  l)y  cpidcniiii  iliseascs,  U.)  ono  hundred  un<l  fil'iy.  Tiiuy  iiuvo  two  chiircht's, 
Thuir  prcsrnl  |MPiiulatiuM  is  sixtt'cn  ijuadrcd  and  ninety-two. 


^, 


v.. 


THE   TRIBES. 


826 


/at ion  in 

L'H,  imtltT 

I'liildrcn 

■ry  kind 

'voniiu'i! 

('  ccntriil 

\tsina  IT 

ith  their 

the  Utfs. 

Its.     The 


(I)  t'hurclu's. 


Tho  Chcycnnos  were  origiimlly  on  the  Chiiycnno  Rivor,  Dakota.  Their  firHt 
treaty  with  tlio  United  Statea  was  made  at  the  inontli  of  tii(!  Teton  Kiver  in  Wir>. 
Driven  westward  hy  tlie  Dakotiw,  tiiey  were  fonnd  i)y  early  explorers  at  the  ea.stern 
luwe  of  tho  Blaek  Ilills.  SuhHeijnently  a  portion  of  them  went  nonth  and  joined 
the  ArapaluK«.  Tlio  Chcyenneri  uro  a  lar};(!,  powerful,  and  athletic  race,  and  arc 
mentally  Huperior  to  most  of  tho  trihcH  with  whom,  an  with  the  whites,  they  have 
been  constantly  at  war.  War  and  the  chase  Ixiing  their  favorite  pnrsuits,  they  make 
blow  progress  in  civilization. 

These  two  tribes  have  had  a  bitter — though  by  no  means  among  tho  native  race 
a  singular — experienco  of  the  bad  faith  of  the  United  States  government.     By  tho 
treaty  of  September  17,  IKal,  an  annuity  was  to  be  |)aitl  tlusin  for  (ifty  yeai"s,  and 
they  were  to  be  "  protected"  in  their  new  home.     Without  their  consent,  the  Henate 
shortened  the  time  to  ten  years,  and,  in  order  to  "  protect"  them,  they  were  removed 
to  a  much  smaller  reservation  in  Colorado  by  the  tn^aty  of  February  18,  1<S('»1,  at  Fort 
Wise,  with  a  similar  guarantee  of  "(juiet  and  i)eaceable  jMjssession."     No  blacker 
l)age  stains  our  history  than  the  story  of  the  Sand  Creek  massacre,  which  took  place 
November  25),  18(54.    After  the  expenditure  of  thirty  millions  of  dollars  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  a  war  which  resulted  from  it,  ami  which,  in  the  language  of  the  Peace  (.Commis- 
sion of  18(57,  wim  "  dishonorable  to  the  nation  and  disgraceful  to  tlujse  who  originated 
it,"  a  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  at  the  camp  on  the  Little  Arkansas,  October  14, 
18f)5.     The  pnjviso  to  this   treaty  that  no  part  of  their  reservation  should  be  in 
Kansas,  or  upon  any  Indian  reserve,  was  found  to  exclude  thciii  from  the  promised 
land,  leaving  them  without  a  foot  of  territory.     Under  these  circumstances  their 
young  braves  commenced  depredations  on  the  mail-routes  on  the  jdains,  and  in  the 
summer  of  18(57  a  Cheyenne  village  of  three  hundred  lodges  was  burnt  by  United 
States  soldiers  under  Ceneral   Hancock.      The  treaty  of  Medicine  Lodge  Cre«'k, 
October  28,  18(J7,  deprived  them  of  their  olil  hunting-grounds  between  the  Platte 
and  the  Arkansas,  and  placed  them  in  the  Lidian  Territory.     On  October  27,  18(58, 
Black  Ketth;  and  his  entire  l)and  were  killed  by  (Jcneral  Custer's  command  at  Ante- 
lope Hills  on  the  Wichita  River.     A  numl)er  of  chiefs  of  these  tribes  visitetl  New 
York  and  Boston  in  June,  1871.     A  vigorous  campaign  against  the  Southern  Chey- 
ennes  was  carried  on  in  187;}-74  by  (ieneral  Miles,  terminating  in  their  surrender, 
March  (5,  1874.     h\  1870  war  was  renewed  with  the  Sioux  and  Northern  C'lieyt'iiiies, 
in  the  ccmrse  of  which  occurred  the  massacre  of  (Jeneral  Custer's  entire  command, 
and  the  destruction  of  a  large  Cheyenne  village  by  Colonel  Mackenzie,  November 
2"),  1870.      A  portion  of  those  who  escaped  surrendered   in  the  following  spring, 
and  were  sent  to  the  Lidian  Territory,  wlu're,  contrary  to  their  wishes,  they  were 
placed  on  the  reservation  of  the  Southern  Cheyennes,  whom  they  iletested.     Three 
hundred  of  them,  under  Dull-Knife,  escaped  northward,  but  were  pursued  and  cap- 
tured, and  '  ilx  i-.  back  to  the  Lidian  Territory.     Preferring  death  to  this  alternative, 
in  the  mid  He  oi    vinter  the  band  llcil  from  the  post,  and  were  hunted  down  and 
shot  like  w  1<1  l>e.-ts.     A  few  women  and  children  who  survived  were  sent  to  the 
Dakotas. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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I.I 


11.25 


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116 


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M.  11.6 


Hiotographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WESr  HA^tN  STVEET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  KJi: 

(716)  872-4503 


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i> 


O^ 


326 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


MIAMIS. 

The  Miamis,  a  warlike  race,  formerly  numbered  eight  thousand.  They  were  con- 
tinually engaged  in  broils  with  their  neighbors  the  Iroquois  and  the  Sioux,  and  also 
with  the  French,  in  which  they  lost  heavily,  reducing  themselves  still  further  by 
subsequent  ware  against  the  United  States,  and  by  quarrels  among  themselves.  Only 
a  few  of  them  now  remain,  and  these  are  scattered  over  the  Indian  Territory  and 
Kansas.  In  the  latter  State,  in  Linn  and  Miami  Counties,  they  have  a  reservation  of 
ten  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty  acres,  the  larger  part  of  which  is  held  in  sev- 
eralty by  them.  Much  trouble  has  been  given  them  by  the  aggressions  of  white 
settlers  upon  their  lands.  They  have  become  greatly  demoralized,  and  their  school 
hiis  been  abandoned.  They  are  native  to  Indiana,  where  three  hund.ed  and  forty- 
five  of  them  are  now  citizens.  Most  of  the  tribe  removed  to  Kansas  in  1846,  and 
in  twenty-four  years  were  reduced  in  numbers  from  five  hundred  to  ninety-two.  In 
1873  most  of  their  Kanssis  lands  were  sold,  and  the  tribe  confederated  with  the 
Peorias  in  the  Indian  Territory. 

In  the  Indian  war  in  the  West,  which  broke  out  in  the  early  part  of  Washing- 
ton's first  term,  the  Miamis  were  the  principal  central  power.  With  their  confed- 
erates, they  occupied  the  valleys  of  the  Wabash  and  the  Miami  of  the  Lakes,  and 
stretched  like  an  impassable  line  between  Lake  Erie  and  the  Lower  Ohio,  forming  a 
complete  bar  to  the  settlement  of  the  West.  The  outrages  they  committed,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Shawnees  and  Delawares,  and  the  threatening  aspect  they  assumed, 
led  eventually  '  >  the  invasion  of  their  territory,  at  separate  periods,  by  Colonel 
ilarmar  and  General  St.  Clair.  The  defeat  of  both  of  these  expeditions,  in  successive 
seasons,  carried  dismay  and  terror  to  the  exposed  frontiers.  These  defeats  were  essen- 
tially the  work  of  the  celebrated  chief  Little  Turtle,  a  man  of  extraordinary  energy, 
courage,  and  foresight.  This  chain  to  the  advance  of  settlements  was  finally  broken 
by  the  third  Federal  army,  led  by  General  Wayne,  who  defeated  the  combined  enemy 
in  a  general  battle  at  the  Kapids  of  the  Maumee,  and  brought  the  Indians  to  terms 
at  the  treaty  of  Greenville  in  17U5. 

From  this  date,  except  during  the  war  of  1812,  when  they  again  sided  with 
England,  the  Miamis  have  remained  at  peace  with  the  United  States,  finally  realizing 
from  the  sale  of  their  fertile  lands  on  the  banks  of  the  Wabash  ten  thousand  times 
iw  much  lus  their  furs  could  possibly  have  brought  them.  After  the  death  of  Little 
Turtle,  who  had  been  their  counsellor,  leader,  and  war-captiiin  before  and  after  the 
Revolution,  the  chieftainship,  being  in  the  female  line,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Pesh- 
kewah,  or  the  Lynx,  a  man  better  known  on  the  frontiers  as  John  B.  llichardville. 
Inheriting  French  blood,  of  the  vulif  ctiste,  from  the  father's  side,  he  was  a  man 
well  adapted  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  Miamis  during  this  peculiar  period.  Exer- 
cising higli  powers  as  the  governor  of  a  numerous  tribe  who  had  a  reputJition  (or 
their  warlike  qualities,  and  with  a  strong  teeliiig  of  self-interest,  he  secured  the  best 
terms  in  every  negotiation,  enriching  greatly  both  his  tribe  and  himself. 


iJt> 


\!im 


THE  TRIBES. 


327 


I- 


According  to  tradition,  Peshkewah  was  born  about  1761,  on  the  St.  Mary's 
River,  Indiana,  a  few  miles  from  Fr  rt  Wayne.  This  was  the  period  of  the  Pontiac 
war  in  that  locality,  when  the  Western  tribes  followed  the  lead  of  the  energetic  and 
intrepid  Algonkin  in  resisting  the  transfer  of  authority  from  the  French  to  the 
English  power.  He  was  too  young  for  any  agency  in  this  war,  and  the  event  has 
no  further  connection  with  the  man  than  as  it  introduced  him  and  his  people  to  a 
new  phase  of  liistory.  A  new  era  had  now  opened.  France  had  lost  Canada,  and 
Great  Britain  had  assumed  the  power  which  she  has  so  long  wielded  among  the  Indian 
tribes.  But  France  had  left  an  influential  element  which  could  not  be  eliminated  by 
a  treaty.  The  French  population  had  extensively  intermarried  with  the  Indian 
females,  and  tie  whole  line  of  frontiers  was  composed  almost  entirely  of  this  half- 
breed  population.  The  Indian  trade,  that  lever  of  power,  was  in  their  hands.  They 
almost  exclusively  were  acquainted  with  the  Indian  languages,  and  no  negotiation 
could  be  accomplished  without  their  aid.  Thus  England,  from  the  fall  of  Quebec  to 
the  outbreak  of  the  American  Revolution,  may  be  said  to  have  worked  on  the  fron- 
tiers with  French  hands.  America  has  also  been  obliged  to  employ  the  same 
influence  among  the  Indian  population  up  to  the  present  day.  It  was  this  condition 
of  things  that  gave  Peshkewah,  and  all  of  his  class  who  were  similarly  situated,  such 
influence  on  the  frontiers. 

Within  a  dozen  years  of  that  time  the  American  Revolution  broke  out,  and  the 
colonists  found  the  Western  Indians  as  ready  to  take  up  the  hatchet  against  them  as 
they  formerly  were  to  fight  against  the  English.  In  this  feeling,  common  to  his  tribe 
as  well  as  to  others,  Peshkewah  naturally  participated.  Being  only  nineteen  at  the 
close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  he  could  have  taken  but  little  part  in  it.  He 
assisted  at  Harmar's  defeat  in  1790. 

Circumstances  early  brought  young  Peshkewah  into  notice.  His  mother  being  a 
chieftainess,  he  became  the  leading  chief.  His  talents  were  those  of  the  civilian 
rather  than  of  the  warrior.  He  was  kind  and  humane  to  prisoners  while  the  war 
histed,  and  as  soon  as  peace  was  restored  he  became  a  worthy  citizen,  and  enjoyed 
the  confidence  of  the  whites  to  the  fullest  extent.  He  spoke  both  the  French  and 
English  languages,  as  well  as  his  native  tongue,  and  for  a  long  series  of  years  his 
house,  which  wiis  eligibly  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Mary's,  about  four  miles 
from  Fort  Wayne,  was  known  as  the  abode  of  hospitality,  where  friends  and  strangers 
alike  were  received  with  open  hands. 

To  these  generous  qualities  he  united  strict  honesty,  and  a  capacity  for  the  trans- 
action of  business  far  above  the  ordinary  class  of  aboriginal  chiefs  and  rulers.  In 
the  negotiations  with  the  United  States  government  for  the  cession  of  the  Miami 
lands,  he  was  the  leading  spirit  of  his  tribe,  and,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  he 
invariably  secured  the  best  terms.  These  lands  embniced  the  sources  of  the  Wabash 
and  the  Miami  of  the  Lakes,  and  they  are  not  exceeded  in  point  of  fertility  and 
beauty  of  scenery  by  any  in  the  Western  States. 

Peshkewah  is  believed  to  have  been,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  the  most  wealthy 
man  of  the  native  race  in  America,  the  estimate  of  his  property  exceeding  a  million 


:n'p 


m 

J', ;. 


I     i 


'« 


328 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


of  dollars.  A  large  part  of  this  was  in  the  best  selected  lands,  reserved  out  of  the 
original  cessions  of  his  tribe,  and  other  real  estate.  He  died  on  the  13th  of  August, 
1841,  aged  eighty,  within  a  few  miles  of  the  place  where  he  was  born. 


JfENOMONIES. 

The  Menomonies,  or  Wild-Rice  Men,  were  so  named  because  they  subsisted  on 
wild  rice,  in  the  llice  Lake  region,  between  Lakes  Superior  and  Winnebago.  They 
are  settled  on  the  Peoria  Reservation,  near  the  city  of  Sliawano,  Wisconsin,  especially 
valuable  for  its  pine  forests,  but  of  little  value  for  cultivation.  It  was  secured  to 
them  by  treaty  May  12,  1854,  they  ceding  to  the  United  States  their  land  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  SUite.  The  tribe  numbers  about  fifteen  hundred,  is  advancing 
rapidly  in  agricultural  and  industrial  pursuits,  l)eing  largely  engaged  in  lumbering, 
and  takes  an  interest  in  the  education  of  its  children.  The  Menomonies  joined  the 
French  in  the  war  against  the  Fox  Indians  in  1712,  and  against  the  English  up  to 
17G3.  In  the  Revolution  and  in  the  war  of  1812  they  sided  with  England.  They 
were  constantly  at  war  witli  the  Sioux. 


■9 


OTTAWAS. 

The  Ottawas  lived  formerly  on  the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.  In  1650 
they  were  driven  by  the  Iroquois  beyond  the  Mississippi,  only  to  be  forced  back  by 
the  Dakotas.  They  then  settled  at  Mackinaw,  and  allied  themselves  with  the 
French.  They  sided  with  the  Englisli  in  1776.  In  1836  they  sold  their  lands  at 
Grand  Traverse  liay  and  removed  to  Kansas.  They  are  now  a  mere  handful, 
residing  on  the  Quapaw  Reserve,  in  the  Indian  Territory,  whence  they  removed 
from  Franklin  County,  Kansas,  in  1870.  Tliey  are  citizens,  are  temperate  and 
industrious  lus  a  rule,  possess  good  business  qualifications,  and  arc  desirous  of  having 
their  land  allotted.  A  large  iuim))er  of  Ottawas  remain  in  Michigan  with  the  Chip- 
pewiis  at  the  Mackinac  Agency,  and  are,  like  them,  well  advanced  in  civilization, 
lands  having  been  allotted  them,  and  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizenship  having 
been  accorded  them. 

I•AWNK^>^,  QUAPAWs,  inc. 

The  Indians  of  the  eight  small  trilxs  belonging  to  the  Quapaw  Agency,  in  the 
Indian  Territory, — the  Senecas,  Sliawnees,  (iuapaws,  confederated  Peorias,  KaskiiK- 
kias,  Piankeshaws,  and  Wciis,  and  the  Ottawas, — wear  citizens' dress,  are  comfortably 
housed,  have  ami)le  schiwl  facilities,  and  are  virtually  civilize*!.  The  Pawnees  are 
slow  to  renounce  their  former  habits,  and  few  have  as  yet  adopted  civilized  dress  or 
exchanged  their  tejK'cs  for  houses.  In  sch<M)l  m-itters  they  are  more  progressive  than 
in  farming:  they  have  one  hundred  and  twenty  children  in  the  boarding-school. 
This  tribe,  formerly  on  the  Platte  River,  Nebraska,  was  engjiged  in  almost  constiiiit 
warfare  with  the  Dakotiis.     In  1823  their  village  was  burned  by  the  Delawares,  and 


>W- 


THE  TRIBES. 


839 


they  soon  after  suffered  severely  from  smallpox.     They  removed  to  the  Indian  Ter- 
ritory in  1874. 

The  Kaws  still  rely  on  the  government  rations.  The  proximity  of  the  Quapaw 
Reservation  to  the  Kansas  border  proving  highly  injurious, — a  large  proportion  of 
the  Indians  becoming  dissipated  and  indolent, — tliey  have  removed  to  the  agency  of 
the  Osages,  with  wliom  they  have  intermarried  and  properly  belong.  They  number 
three  hundred  and  ninety-seven,  l  diminution  of  one-half  in  twenty  years.  In  their 
new  locality  they  have  made  commendable  improvement. 

The  confederated  tribe  of  Otoes  and  Missourisis,  numbering  four  hundred  and 
thirty-four,  were  removed  from  Iowa  and  Missouri,  and  have  a  reserve  of  forty-three 
thousand  acres  in  the  valley  of  the  Big  Blue  River,  on  the  State  line  between  Kan- 
sas and  Nebraska.  Although  this  is  one  of  the  finest  tracts  for  agricultural  purposes 
west  of  the  Missouri  River,  these  Indians  have  done  little  towards  self-support,  and 
cling  to  their  old  customs.  Some  of  them,  however,  have  opened  farms  and  built 
themselves  houses,  and  a  school  has  been  established.  Their  moral  condition  is  in 
many  respects  far  in  advance  of  that  of  other  tribes.  There  are  no  squaw-men 
among  them,  nor  are  there  any  known  cases  of  illegitimacy. 

The  remnant  of  the  Modoc  Indians  are  on  the  Qui'naw  Reserve,  and  are  rapidly 
improving  their  condition. 

The  Pottawatomie  Reservation,  fourteen  miles  north  of  Topeka,  Kansas,  of 
which  the  present  "  Diminished  Reserve"  of  seventy-seven  thousand  three  hundred 
and  lifty-seven  acres  is  a  portion,  was  set  apart  by  treaty  in  184G.  The  soil  is  rich, 
and  there  are  many  fine  farms  on  the  Reserve.  Only  the  Prairie  band  of  Potta- 
watomies  now  remain  in  Kansas,  many  having  removed  to  the  Indian  Territory. 
They  have  an  ample  school-fund,  and  an  improvement-fund  for  the  purchase  of 
lumber  and  agricultural  implements.  They  are  1  ')nest  and  industrious,  have  learned 
to  acquire  property,  have  abandoned  tribal  relations,  and  are  fast  becoming  civilized. 
These  Indians  were  formerly  settled  on  the  lower  jieniiisula  of  Michigan,  and  were 
driven  into  Wisconsin  by  the  Iroquois.  They  were  allies  of  the  French  against 
the  Inxpiois,  and  took  part  in  Pontiac's  war.  They  sided  with  the  English  in  the 
wars  of  the  Revolution  and  of  1812.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  February  21, 
18(>7,  many  of  the  Pottawatomies  have  become  citizens  of  th;'  United  States,  and 
received  patents  for  their  lands.  Those  in  the  Indian  Territi  ly  now  'lumber  three 
liundretl,  and  are  located  seventy  miles  southwest  of  the  Sac  and  Ft  x  Agency,  on 
tlie  Canadian  River.  They  have  on  their  reservation  a  day-school  a;td  a  Catholic 
mission. 

The  Peorias,  Kaskaskias,  Wesis,  and  Piankeshaws,  who  were  confederated  in 
18")4,  now  number  one  hundred  and  forty-six.  They  occupy  a  reservation  of 
seventy-two  thousand  acres  adjoining  the  Quapaw  Reservation  on  the  south  and 
west.  Under  treaties  made  with  tiicse  tribes  in  IHo'J,  they  removed  to  Kansas, 
whence  they  removed  after  the  treaty  of  18(>7  to  their  present  reservation.  Tliey 
are  geiicndly  intelligent,  are  well  advanced  in  civilization,  and  are  very  successful  in 
their  agricultural  operations. 

42 


330  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


KICKAPOOS. 

The  first  treaty  with  this  tribe,  tlicn  in  Illinois,  was  in  1795.  By  the  terms  of 
the  treaty  of  1883  they  were  settled  in  Kansas.  In  1854  they  ceded  all  their 
Kanssis  lands  to  the  United  States,  except  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres, 
which  were  reserved  to  them  for  a  permanent  home.  They  were  in  18G2  induced  to 
make  another  treaty,  by  which  individual  homes  were  given  to  such  as  desired  them, 
the  adult  males,  heads  of  families,  receiving  patents  in  fee-simple  foi  their  land. 
A  small  wi'act  was  set  apart  to  be  held  in  common  by  such  as  preferred  it*  This 
tribe  numbers  but  two  hundred  and  thirty-four.  Their  reservation  of  twenty  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  acres  lies  in  Brown  County,  Kansas.  It  is  well 
watered,  and  well  adapted  to  agriculture  and  grazing.  They  have  sixty-four  farms 
enclosed  and  thoroughly  cultivated.  They  are  industrious  and  progressive,  and  since 
1870  have  had  a  good  educational  system.  They  are  entirely  satisfied  with  their 
present  homes  and  with  their  treatment  by  the  United  States.  During  the  rebellior , 
about  one  hundred,  dissatisfied  with  the  treaty  of  1862,  went  to  Mexico.  Finding 
that  they  had  been  deceived,  they  attempted  to  return  to  the  United  States.  Only  a 
few  succeeded  in  reaching  the  Kickapoo  Agency.  The  others  still  remain  in  Mexico, 
whence  their  raids  across  the  border  have  been  frequent,  and  have  been  a  sore 
affliction  to  the  people  of  Texas. 

SACS   AND   FOXES. 

The  Sacs  and  Foxes  of  the  Mississippi  number  at  the  present  time  four  hundred 
and  twenty-one.  In  1840  they  numbered  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight.  They  have  a  reservation  of  four  hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand  three 
hundred  and  forty  acres,  adjoining  the  Creeks  on  tlic  west,  and  between  the  Nortii 
Fork  of  the  Canadian  Iliver  and  the  lied  Fork  of  the  Arkansas.  They  formerly 
o'jcupieil  large  tracts  of  country  in  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  ISIissouri,  whence  they 
removed  by  virtue  of  treaty  stipulations  to  a  reservation  in  Kansas.  By  the  terms 
of  the  treaties  of  1850  and  1808,  all  their  Kansas  lands  were  ceded  to  the  United 
States,  and  they  received  in  lieu  thereof  their  present  reservation.  Three  hundred 
and  seventeen  of  these  Indians,  after  their  renjoval  to  Kansas,  returned  to  Iowa,  and 
are  now  receiving  their  share  of  tribal  funds.  They  bought  four  hundred  and  nine- 
teen acres  of  land  in  Tama  County,  part  of  which  they  are  cultivating.  Seven 
luuulred  acres  have  since  been  i)urcha.sed  for  them  by  government,  and  are  held  in 
trust  for  them  by  the  Governor  of  Iowa.  They  are  averse  to  schools,  preferring  to 
instruct  their  eliililren  in  their  own  language,  and  have  made  some  progress  by  that 
system  of  education. 

The  Sac  and  Fox  tribe,  once  famous  for  j)rowes8  in  war,  are  supposed  to  be  lus 
true  a  type  (»f  (li((  native  American  Indian  as  there  is  in  existence.  Though  averse 
to  labor,  some  of  them  have  fine  farms  and  considerable  stock.     Most  of  them  retain 


\>-Z 


r  } 


THE  TRIBES. 


881 


the  breech-cloth  and  blanket,  and  adhere  to  their  old  customs.  The  increased 
attendance  on  the  manual-labor  school  shows  a  growing  disposition  on  their  part  to 
pay  more  attention  to  education.  The  Mo-ko-ho-ko  band,  numbering  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five,  persistently  refuse  to  remove  to  their  reservation,  and  are  now  in 
Osage  County,  Kansas.  A  portion  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  of  Missouri  have  been 
removed  from  Nebraska  to  the  Indian  Territory,  but  the  larger  part  of  them  still 
remain  on  their  old  reservation. 

The  refusal  of  a  portion  of  this  tribe  to  remove  from  their  home  in  the  Kock 
River  Valley  to  lands  assigned  them  beyond  the  Mississippi,  brought  on  the  Black 
Hawk  war.  This  hostile  rising  terminated  speedily  in  their  defeat  by  General 
Atkinson  at  the  battle  of  the  Bad  Axe,  August  2,  1832. 

KENISTENOS, 

The  word  "  Kenisteno"  is  derived  from  the  Chippewa  verb  nisau,  to  kill.  The 
people  are  an  early  offshoot  of  the  Algonkin  family,  the  language  of  which  they 
apeak,  but  with  less  purity  and  richness  of  inflection  than  the  Chippewas.  We  are 
informed  by  Mackenzie  that  they  are  spread  over  a  vast  extent  of  country,  and 
that  their  language  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  people  who  inhabit  the  coast  of  British 
America  on  the  Atlantic,  with  the  exception  of  the  Esquimaux,  and  that  it  continues 
along  the  coast  of  Labrador  and  the  Gulf  and  lliver  St.  Lawrence,  to  Montreal.  The 
line  then  follows  the  Ottawa  River  to  its  source,  and  continues  thence  nearly  west 
along  the  highlands  which  divide  the  waters  that  fall  into  Lake  Superior  and  Hud- 
son's Buy.  It  then  proceeds  till  it  strikes  the  middle  part  of  the  river  Winnipeg, 
following  that  water  through  Lake  Winnipeg  to  the  mouth  of  the  Saskatchewan ; 
thence  it  accompanies  the  latter  to  Fort  George,  when  the  line,  striking  by  the  head 
of  the  Beaver  River  to  the  Elk  River,  runs  along  its  banks  to  its  discharge  in  tlie 
Lake  of  the  Hills ;  from  which  it  may  be  carried  back  east  to  the  Isle  a  la  Crosse, 
and  so  on  to  Churchill  by  the  Missinnippi.  Tlie  wliole  of  the  tract  between  this  line 
and  Hudson's  Bay  and  Straits  (except  tiiat  of  the  Esquimaux  in  the  latter)  may  be 
said  to  be  exclusively  the  country  of  the  Kenistenos  (or  Knisteneaux).  Some  of 
them,  indeed,  have  penetrated  farther  west  and  south,  to  the  Red  River,  to  the  south 
of  Lake  Winnipeg,  and  the  south  branch  of  the  Saskatchewan. 

They  are  of  motlerate  stature,  well  proportioned,  and  of  great  activity.  Exam- 
|)les  of  deformity  are  seldom  met  witli.  Their  complexion  is  of  a  copper  color,  and 
tlieir  hair  is  black,  like  that  of  all  the  natives  of  North  America.  It  is  cut  in  various 
forms,  according  to  the  fancy  of  the  several  tribes,  and  by  some  is  left  in  the  long 
lank  flow  of  nature.  They  very  generally  extract  their  beards,  and  both  sexes 
manifest  a  disposition  to  pluck  the  hair  from  every  part  of  their  body  and  limbs. 
Tiieir  eyes  arc  black,  keen,  and  i)enetrating,  their  countenances  open  and  agreeable, 
and  it  is  a  principal  object  of  their  vanity  to  give  every  possible  decoration  to  their 
|K!rsons.  A  material  article  in  their  toilet  is  vermilion,  which  they  contrast  with 
tlieir  native  blue,  white,  and  brown  earths,  to  which  charcoal  is  frequently  added. 


Mi 


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332 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUE   UNITED  STATES. 


Their  dress  is  at  once  simple  and  commodious.  It  consists  of  tight  leggings, 
reaching  ahnost  to  the  hip ;  a  strip  of  cloth  or  leather,  called  assian,  about  one  foot 
wide  antl  five  feet  long,  whose  ends  are  drawn  inward  and  hang  behind  and  before 
over  a  belt  tied  round  the  waist  for  that  purpose ;  a  close  vest  or  shirt  reaching  down 
to  the  former  garment,  and  cinctured  with  a  broad  strip  of  parchment  fastened  with 
thongs  behind ;  and  a  cap  for  the  head,  consisting  of  a  jjicce  of  fur,  or  a  small  skin, 
with  the  brush  of  the  animal  as  a  susjiended  ornament.  A  kind  of  robe  is  thrown 
occasionally  over  the  whole  of  the  dress,  and  serves  both  night  and  day.  These 
articles,  with  the  addition  of  shoes  and  mittens,  constitute  the  variety  of  their  apparel. 
The  materials  vary  according  to  the  season,  and  consist  of  dressed  moose-skin,  beaver 
jn-eparcd  with  the  fur,  or  European  woollens.  The  leather  is  neatly  painted,  and 
fancifully  worked  in  some  parts  with  porcupine-quills  and  moose-deer  hair;  the 
shirts  and  leggings  are  also  adorned  with  fringe  and  tassels ;  nor  are  the  shoes  and 
mittens  without  their  share  of  appropriate  decoration,  worked  with  a  considerable 
degree  of  skill  and  taste.  These  habiliments  a'-o  put  on,  however,  as  fancy  or  con- 
venience suggests,  and  they  will  sometimes  proceed  to  the  chase  in  the  severest  frost 
covered  only  with  the  slightest  of  them.  Their  head-dresses  are  comi^osed  of  the 
feathers  of  the  swan,  the  eagle,  and  other  birds.  The  teeth,  horns,  and  claws  of 
different  animals  are  also  the  occasional  ornaments  of  the  head  and  neck.  Their 
hair,  however  arranged,  is  always  besmeared  with  grease.  The  making  of  every 
article  of  dress  is  a  female  occujiation,  and  the  women,  though  by  no  means  inatten- 
tive to  the  decoration  of  their  own  persons,  appear  to  have  a  still  greater  degree  of 
pride  in  attending  to  the  appearance  of  the  men,  whose  faces  are  painted  with  more 
care  than  those  of  the  women. 

The  dress  of  the  women  is  formed  of  the  same  materials  as  that  of  the  other  sex, 
but  is  of  a  different  make  and  arrangement.  Their  shoes  are  commonly  plain,  and 
their  leggings  gartered  beneath  the  knee.  Their  coat,  or  body-covering,  falls  down 
to  the  miildle  of  the  leg,  and  is  fastened  over  the  shoulders  with  cords,  a  flap  or  cape 
turning  down  about  eight  inches  both  before  and  behind,  and  agreeably  ornamented 
with  quill-work  and  fringe ;  the  bottom  is  also  fringed,  and  fancifully  i)aiiitcd  as  high 
as  the  knee.  As  it  is  very  loose,  it  is  enclosed  round  the  waist  with  a  stiff  belt,  deco- 
rated with  tas.sels,  and  fastened  behind.  The  arms  are  covered  to  the  wrist  with 
detached  sleeves,  which  are  sewed  as  far  as  the  bend  of  the  arm;  thence  they  aie 
drawn  up  to  the  neck,  and  the  corners  fall  down  behind  as  low  as  the  waist.  The  cap, 
when  they  wear  one,  consists  of  a  certain  quantity  of  leather  or  cloth,  sewed  at  one  end, 
liy  which  means  it  is  kept  on  the  head,  and,  hanging  down  the  back,  is  fastened  to  the 
Ix'lt  as  well  as  under  the  chin.  The  upper  garment  is  a  robe  like  that  worn  by  the 
men.  Their  hair  is  divided  on  the  crown  and  tied  behind,  or  sometimes  fastened  in 
large  knots  over  the  ears.  They  are  fond  of  Euroj)ean  articles,  and  prefer  them  to 
their  own  native  commodities.  Their  ornaments  consist  of  bracelets,  rings,  and  similar 
articles.  8omo  of  the  women  tattoo  three  perpendicular  lines,  which  are  sometimes 
double, — one  from  the  centre  of  the  chin  to  the  centre  of  the  under  li]),  and  one 
parallel  on  each  side  to  the  corner  of  the  mouth. 


■v\         /•    / 


»V:.. 


THE  TRIBES. 

"  Of  all  the  nations  which  I  have  seen  on  this  continent,"  says  Mackenzie,  "  the 
Knisteneaux  women  are  the  most  comely.  Their  figure  is  generally  well  propor- 
^■jned,  and  the  regularity  of  their  features  would  be  acknowledged  by  the  more 
civilized  people  of  Europe.  Their  complexion  has  less  of  that  dark  tinge  which 
is  common  to  savages  who  have  less  cleanly  habits." 

These  people  are  naturally  mild  and  affable,  as  well  as  just  in  their  dealings,  not 
only  among  themselves,  but  with  strangers.  They  are  also  generous  and  hospitable, 
and  good-natured  in  the  extreme,  except  when  their  nature  is  perverted  by  the 
infiuence  of  spirituous  liquors.  To  their  children  tliey  are  indulgent  to  a  fault.  The 
father,  though  he  assumes  no  command  over  them,  is  ever  anxious  to  instruct  them 
in  all  the  preparatory  qualifications  for  war  and  hunting ;  while  the  mother  is  equally 
attentive  to  her  daughters,  teaching  them  everything  that  is  considered  necessary 
to  their  character  and  situation.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  husband  makes  any 
distinction  between  the  children  of  his  wife,  though  they  may  be  the  offspring  of 
different  fathers.  The  brand  of  illegitimacy  is  attached  to  those  only  who  are  born 
before  their  mothers  have  cohabited  with  any  man  by  the  title  of  husband. 

Notwithstanding  the  assertions  of  travellers,  it  appears  that  chastity  is  looked 
upon  by  them  as  a  virtue,  and  that  fidelity  is  believed  to  be  essential  to  the  happiness 
of  wedded  life ;  and  it  sometimes  happens  that  the  infidelity  of  a  wife  is  punished  by 
the  husband  with  the  loss  of  her  hair,  her  nose,  or  perhaps  her  life.  But  a  temporary 
interchange  of  wives  is  not  uncommon,  and  the  offer  of  their  wives'  persons  is  con- 
sidered a  necessary  part  of  the  hospitality  due  to  strangers. 

When  a  man  loses  his  wife,  it  is  considered  his  duty  to  marry  her  sister,  if  she 
has  one ;  or  he  may,  if  he  pleases,  have  them  both  at  the  same  time. 

When  a  young  man  marries,  he  immediately  goes  to  live  with  the  father  and 
mother  of  his  wife,  who  treat  him,  nevertheless,  Jis  an  entire  stranger  till  after  the 
birth  of  his  first  child ;  he  then  attaches  himself  more  to  them  than  to  his  own  i)arents, 
and  his  wife  no  longer  gives  him  any  other  denomination  than  that  of  the  father  of 
her  child, — m  niibaim. 

War  and  the  chase  form  the  chief  employment  of  the  men.  Tliey  also  spear 
fish,  but  the  management  of  the  nets  is  left  to  the  women.  The  females  of  this 
nation  are  in  the  same  subordinate  state  as  those  of  all  other  savage  tribes,  but  the 
severity  of  their  labor  Ls  much  diminished  by  their  situation  on  the  banks  of  lakes 
and  rivers,  where  they  use  canoes.  In  the  winter,  when  the  waters  are  frozen,  they 
make  their  journeys,  which  are  never  of  any  great  length,  with  sledges  drawn  by 
dogs.  The  women  are  at  the  same  time  subject  to  every  kind  of  domestic  drudgery ; 
they  dress  the  leather,  make  the  clothes  and  shoes,  weave  the  nets,  collect  wood,  erect 
the  tents,  fetch  water,  and  perform  every  culinary  service;  so  that  when  the  duties 
of  maternal  care  are  added,  it  will  appear  that  the  life  of  these  women  is  an  uninter- 
rupted succession  of  toil  and  pain.  This,  indeed,  is  the  sense  they  entertain  of  their 
own  situation ;  and  under  the  influence  of  that  sentiment  they  are  sometimes  known 
to  destroy  their  female  children  to  save  them  from  the  miseries  which  they  themselves 
have  suffered.     They  also  have  a  ready  way,  by  the  use  of  certain  simi)les,  of  pro- 


I 


334 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


curing  abortion,  which  they  sometimes  practise  from  hatred  of  the  father  or  to  save 
themselves  tlie  trouble  that  children  occasion  ;  and  it  is  said  that  this  unnatural  act  is 
repeated  without  any  injury  to  the  health  of  the  women  who  perpetrate  it. 

The  funeral  rites  begin,  like  all  other  solemn  ceremonials,  with  smoking,  and  are 
concluded  by  a  feast.  The  body  is  dressed  in  the  best  habiliments  possessed  by  the 
deceased  or  his  relations,  and  is  then  deposited  in  a  grave  lined  with  branches ;  some 
domestic  utensils  are  placed  on  it,  and  a  kind  cf  canopy  is  erected  over  it.  During 
this  ceremony  great  lamentations  are  made,  and  if  the  departed  person  is  very  much 
regretted,  the  near  relations  cut  o5'  their  hair,  pierce  the  fleshy  part  of  their  thighs 
and  arms  with  arrows,  knives,  etc.,  and  blacken  their  faces  with  charcoal.  If  he 
has  distinguished  himself  in  war,  the  corpse  is  usually  laid  on  a  kind  of  scaflblding; 
and  it  is  said  that  women,  as  in  the  East,  have  been  known  to  sacriflce  themselves  to 
the  manes  of  their  husbands.  The  whole  of  the  property  belonging  to  the  departed  is 
destroyed,  and  the  relations  take  in  exchange  for  the  wearing  apparel  any  rags  that 
will  cover  their  nakedness.  The  feast  bestowed  on  the  occasion,  which  is,  or  at  least 
used  to  be,  repeated  annually,  is  accompanied  with  eulogiums  on  the  deceased,  and 
is  unattended  with  any  acta  of  ferocity.  On  the  tomb  are  carved  or  painted  the 
symbols  or  totems  of  his  tribe,  which  are  taken  from  the  different  animals,  birds,  or 
rci)tiles  of  the  country. 

War  is,  however,  the  prime  pursuit.  Many  are  the  motives  which  induce  savages 
to  engage  in  it, — as  to  prove  their  courage,  to  avenge  the  death  of  relations,  or  in 
consequence  of  some  portentous  dream.  If  the  tribe  feel  themselves  called  ui)on  to 
go  to  war,  the  eldei-s  convene  the  people  in  order  to  know  the  general  opinion,  and, 
if  it  is  for  war,  the  chief  publishes  his  intention  to  smoke  in  the  sacred  stem  at  a 
certain  period.  Solemnity,  meditation,  and  fasting  are  required  as  preparatory  cere- 
monials. When  the  2)eriod  has  arrived,  the  chief  enlarges  on  the  causes  which  have 
called  them  together,  and  the  necessity  of  the  measures  proposed  on  the  occasion. 
He  then  invites  those  who  are  willing  to  follow  him  to  smoke  out  of  the  sacred  stem, 
ihe  token  of  enrolment,  and,  if  it  should  be  the  general  opinion  that  assistance  is 
necessary,  others  are  invited,  with  great  formality,  to  join  them.  Every  individual 
who  attends  these  meetings  brings  something  with  him  as  a  sign  of  his  warlike 
intention,  or  lus  an  object  of  sacrifice :  these  are  suspended  from  poles  near  the  2»l«ce 
of  council  aller  the  assembly  has  adjourned. 

They  have  frequent  feasts,  and  particular  circumstances  never  fail  to  produce 
them,  such  as  a  tedious  illness,  long  fsisting,  etc.  On  these  occasions  it  is  usual  for 
the  person  who  means  to  give  the  entertainment  to  announce  his  design  of  opening 
the  medicine-bag  and  smoking  out  of  IiLs  sacred  stem  on  a  certain  day.  This  declara- 
tion is  considered  a  sacred  vow  that  cannot  be  broken.  There  are  also  stated  iieriods, 
such  as  the  spring  and  autumn,  when  they  engage  in  very  long  and  solemn  ceremo- 
nies. On  these  occasions  dogs  are  offered  iis  sacrifices,  and  those  which  are  very  fut 
and  milk-white  are  preferred.  They  also  make  large  offerings  of  their  property, 
whatever  it  may  be.  The  scene  of  these  ceremonies  is  an  open  enclosure  on  the 
bank  of  a  river  or  lake,  and  in  the  most  cons])ieuous  situation,  in  order  that  such  as 


m 


THE  TRIBES. 


336 


are  paflsing  along  or  travelling  may  bo  induced  to  make  their  offerings.  There  is 
also  a  particular  custom  among  them  that  on  these  occasions  if  any  of  the  tribe,  or 
even  a  stranger,  should  be  passing  by,  and  be  in  real  want  of  anything  that  is  dis- 
played as  an  offering,  ho  has  a  right  to  take  it,  so  that  ho  replaces  it  with  some  article 
ho  can  spare,  though  it  bo  of  inferior  value.  But  to  take  or  touch  anything  wantonly 
is  considered  a  sacrilegious  act,  and  highly  insulting  to  the  great  Master  of  Life  (to 
use  their  own  expression),  who  is  the  sacred  object  of  their  ceremonial  devotion. 

The  scene  of  private  sacrifice  is  the  lodge  of  the  person  who  performs  it,  prepared 
for  that  purpose  by  removing  everything  out  of  it,  and  spreading  green  branches  in 
every  part.  The  fire  and  ashes  are  also  taken  away.  A  new  hearth  is  made  of 
fresh  earth,  and  another  fire  is  lighted.*  The  owner  of  the  dwelling  remains  alono 
in  it,  and  ho  begins  the  ceremony  by  spreading  a  piece  of  new  cloth,  or  a  well-dressed 
moose-skin  neatly  painted,  on  which  he  opens  his  medicine-bag  and  exposes  ita 
various  contents.  The  principal  of  these  is  a  kind  of  household  god,  which  is  a 
small  carved  image  about  eight  inches  long.  Its  first  covering  is  of  down,  over 
which  a  piece  of  birch  bark  is  closely  tied,  and  the  whole  is  enveloped  in  several 
folds  of  red  and  blue  cloth.  This  little  figure  is  an  object  of  the  most  pious  venera- 
tion. The  next  article  is  his  war-cap,  which  is  decorated  with  the  feathers  and 
plumes  of  scarce  birds,  the  fur  of  beavers,  eagles'  claws,  etc.  There  is  also  suspended 
from  it  a  quill  or  feather  for  every  enemy  whom  the  owner  of  it  has  slain  in  battle. 
The  remaining  contents  of  the  bag  are  a  piece  of  tobacco,  several  roots  and  simples 
which  are  in  great  CHtimation  for  their  medicinal  qualities,  and  an  opwagun,  or  pipe. 
These  articles  being  all  exposed,  and  the  pipe-stem  placed  upon  two  forks,  as  it  must 
not  touch  the  ground,  the  master  of  the  lodge  sends  for  the  person  he  most  esteems, 
who  sits  down  opposite  to  him.  The  pipe  is  then  filled  and  fixed  to  the  stem.  A 
pair  of  wooden  pincers  is  provided  to  put  the  fire  in  the  pipe,  and  a  double-pointed 
pin  to  empty  it  of  the  remnant  of  tobacco  which  is  not  consumed.  This  arrange- 
ment being  made,  the  men  assemble,  and  sometimes  the  women  are  allowed  to  bo 
humble  8i)ectjitor8,  while  the  most  religious  awe  and  solemnity  pervade  the  whole. 
The  Michiuiwai,  or  assistant,  takes  up  the  pipe,  lights  it,  and  presents  it  to  the 
olficiating  person,  who  receives  it  standing,  and  holds  it  between  both  his  hands. 
He  then  turns  himself  to  the  east  and  draws  a  few  whiffs,  which  he  blows  to  that 
point.  The  same  ceremony  he  observes  to  the  other  three  quarters,  with  his  eyes 
directed  upwards  during  the  whole  of  it.  He  holds  the  stem  about  the  middle, 
between  the  three  first  fingers  of  both  hands,  and,  raising  them  upon  a  line  with  his 
forehead,  he  swings  it  three  times  round  from  the  east,  with  the  sun,  and,  after 
pointing  and  balancing  it  in  various  directions,  he  reposes  it  on  the  forks.*  He  then 
makes  a  speech  to  exphiin  the  design  of  the  meeting,  and  concludes  with  an  acknowl- 
edgment for  past  mercies,  and  a  prayer  for  the  continuance  of  them,  addressed  to  the 

'  Tliis  was  also  done  by  tho  Indians  in  Mexico  on  receiving  the  new  fire  from  the  Aztec  priests. 
'  Tiiis  ceremony  roculU  Clmrlcvoix'.s  ubiiervatiuus,  in  1721,  on  tlio  priest  .standing  at  sunrise  in  the  door 
of  the  Temple  of  tho  Sun,  at  Natchez,  making  his  genuflections  with  the  pipe. 


"'mi 


li 


m 


330 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Miistcr  of  Life.  Ho  then  hIIh  down,  anil  tlic  wliolo  company  tleclaro  their  approba- 
tion and  thankH  by  uttering  the  word  ho  !  with  an  ciiipliatic  prolongation  of  the  last 
letter.  The  Michiniwai  then  takoH  up  the  pi])e  and  hokk  it  to  the  mouth  of  the 
ofliciating  person,  who,  after  smoking  three  wliiffs  out  of  it,  utters  a  short  prayer, 
and  then  gws  round  witli  it,  taking  liis  course  from  east  to  west,  to  every  i>erson 
present,  who  individually  says  something  to  him  on  the  occasion,  and  thus  the  pi]K) 
is  generally  smoked  out.  After  turning  it  three  or  four  times  round  liis  head,  ho 
drops  it  downwards,  and  replaces  it  in  its  original  situation.  Ho  then  returns  the 
company  thanks  for  their  attendance,  and  wishes  them,  as  well  as  the  whole  tribe, 
health  and  long  life.  These  smoking  rites  precede  every  matter  of  great  importance, 
with  more  or  less  ceremony,  but  always  with  equal  solemnity. 

If  a  chief  is  anxious  to  know  the  disposition  of  his  ])eop]c  towards  him,  or  if  ho 
wishes  to  settle  any  difference  between  them,  he  announces  Ids  intention  of  oi)cning 
his  medicine-bag  and  smoking  in  his  sacred  stem ;  and  no  man  who  entertains  a 
grudge  against  any  of  the  party  thus  ussenibled  caii  smoke  with  the  sacred  stem,  as 
that  ceremony  dissipates  all  differences,  and  is  never  violated.  No  one  can  avoid 
attending  on  these  occasions  ;  bul  a  {x^rson  may  attend  and  be  excused  from  assisting 
at  the  ceremonies  by  acknowledging  that  he  has  not  undertronc  the  necessary  puriii- 
cation.  If  a  contract  is  entered  into  and  solemnized  by  ..ue  ceremony  of  smoking, 
it  never  fails  of  being  faithfully  fulfillei^.  If  a  person  previous  to  his  going  a 
Journey  leaves  the  sacred  stem  as  a  pledge  of  his  return,  no  consideration  whatever 
will  jirevent  him  from  executing  his  engagement.' 

The  chief,  when  ho  proposes  to  make  a  feast,  sends  quills  or  small  pieces  of  wood 
iis  tokens  of  invitation  to  such  as  he  wishes  to  jmrtake  of  it.  At  the  appointed  time 
the  guest.s  arrive,  each  bringing  a  dish  or  platter  and  a  knife,  and  take  their  seats  on 
each  side  of  the  chief,  who  receives  them  sitting,  according  to  llieir  respective  ages. 
The  pipe  is  then  lighted,  and  he  makes  an  ecjual  division  of  everything  that  is  pro- 
vided. While  the  company  are  enjoying  their  meal,  the  chief  sings,  and  accompanies 
his  song  with  the  tiuubourine,  or  shishi(juoi,  or  rattle.  The  guest  who  has  lii-st  eaten 
his  j)ortioii  is  considered  as  the  most  distinguished  jwrson.  If  there  should  be  any 
who  cannot  linish  the  whole  of  their  mess,  they  endeavor  to  prevail  upon  some  of 
their  friends  to  eat  it  for  them,  who  are  rewarded  for  their  assistance  with  ammuni- 
tion and  tobacco.  It  is  proper  also  to  remark  that  at  these  feasts  a  sniall  quantity 
of  meat  or  drink  is  sacrificed  before  they  begin  to  eat,  by  throwing  it  into  the  iire  or 
on  the  earth. 

These  feasts  differ  according  to  circumstances.  Sometimes  each  man's  allowance 
is  no  more  than  lie  «in  dispatch  iu  a  couple  of  hours.  At  other  times  the  quantity 
is  suliicient  to  sujiply  each  of  them  with  food  for  a  week,  though  it  must  be  devoured 
in  a  day.  On  these  occasions  it  is  very  diflicult  to  procure  substitutes,  and  the  whole 
must  be  eaten,  whatever  time  it  may  recjuire.     At  some  of  these  entertainments  there 

'  It  iH,  however,  to  be  lamented  that  of  late  llioro  is  a  relaxation  of  the  dutioa  origiuully  attached  to 
tlii'Ho  fcMlivaJM. 


THE   TRIBES. 


837 


Bcuti^  on 


in  u  more  rational  arrangnmont,  when  the  gueHts  arc  allowed  to  curry  homo  with  thcra 
tlio  HnperlUtouH  part  of  their  portionn.  Clreat  care  is  iilways  taken  that  the  hones 
Hliall  hu  hurned,  ua  it  would  ho  conHidered  a  proi'uinitiun  were  the  dogn  permitted  to 
touch  them. 

The  ])uhlic  feoab)  are  conducted  in  the  same  manner,  hut  with  some  additional 
ceremony.  Several  chiefs  officiate  at  them,  and  procure  tlie  neeesHary  provisions,  as 
well  as  prepare  a  proper  place  of  reception  for  the  numerous  company.  Here  the 
giK!8t«  discourse  upon  puhlic  topics,  dilate  upon  the  heroic  deeds  of  their  forefathers, 
and  incite  the  rising  generation  to  follow  their  example.  The  entertainment  on 
these  occasions  consist  of  dried  meats,  as  it  would  not  he  practicahle  to  dress  a  suf- 
ficient quantity  of  fresh  meat  for  so  large  an  asscmhly,  though  the  women  and 
children  are  excluded. 

The  women,  who  are  forhidden  to  enter  the  places  sue-  d  to  these  festivals,  dnnco 
and  sing  around  them,  and  sometimes  heat  time  to  the  music  within  them,  which 
forms  an  agrecahle  contrast. 

With  respect  to  the  divisions  of  time,  they  con;pute  the  length  of  their  journeys 
hy  the  nuniher  of  nights  passed  in  performing  them,  and  ilif  y  divide  the  year  hy  the 
succf.' vi  n  of  moons.  In  this  calculation,  however,  they  arc  not  altogether  correct, 
as  they  cannot  account  for  the  odd  days.  The  names  which  they  give  to  the  moons 
are  descriptive  of  the  several  seasons.  They  are,  in  their  order,  heginning  with  the 
month  of  May,  called  the  frog  moon,  the  moon  when  hirds  hegin  to  lay  their  eggs, 
the  moon  when  hirds  moult,  the  moon  when  hirds  hegin  to  fly,  the  moon  in  winch  the 
moose  casts  its  horns,  the  rutting  moon,  the  hoar-frost  moon,  or  ice  moon,  the  whirl- 
wind moon,  the  cold  moon,  the  hig  moon,  the  eagle  moon,  and  the  goose  moon. 

Superstition  h  )lds  its  usual  place  with  the  Kcnisteuos.  Among  their  various 
heliefs  are  those  of  a  funereal  phantom  and  the  personality  of  the  ignis-fatuus.  They 
helieve  that  the  vapor  whicii  is  seen  to  hover  over  moist  and  swampy  places  is  the 
spirit  of  some  person  lately  dead.  Tiiey  also  fancy  another  spirit,  winch  appcara 
in  the  shape  of  a  mon  upon  the  trees  near  the  lodge  of  a  person  deceased  whose 
property  has  not  heen  interred  with  him.  He  is  represented  as  hearing  a  gun  in  his 
haiul,  and  it  is  helieved  that  he  does  not  ;cturn  to  his  rest  till  the  i)roperty  that  luis 
heen  withheld  from  the  grave  ha-s  heon  sacrificed  to  the  dead.  If  philosophy  cannot 
protect  the  common  masses  in  civilized  life  from  similar  fancies,  we  should  not  regard 
it  as  strange  that  the  Indian  trilxjs  yield  to  such  impressions. 


••1: 


"MY 


'  M 


\\    \ 


r  f 


kttuoliud  tu 


APPALACHIANS.— THE  FIVE  CIVILIZED  TRIBES. 

The  five  civilized  trihes  .)f  the  Indian  Territory — the  Creeks,  Cherokees,  Choc- 
taws,  Chickasaws,  and  Seminoles— tlifl'er  from  all  others  in  the  fact  that  they  have 
ac(iuired  a  good  degree  of  social  culture,  each  has  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial 
hrajiches  of  government  constructed  on  the  same  i)lan  as  ohtsiins  in  the  States,  and 
each  tril)al  government  has  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  its  own  territory  in  csjse  all 
the  inhabitants  are  citizens  of  the  nation.     The  executive  in  each  of  these  tribes 

-1:1 


338 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


ii 


consists  of  a  principal  j-iief  and  an  assistant.  The  former  receives  eight  hundred 
dolhirs  per  annum,  the  latter  six  hundred  dollars.  The  legislature  consists  of  a 
senate  and  a  council,  which  meet  annually  in  November  and  hold  sessions  of  thirty 
days.  The  judiciary  consists  of  a  supreme  court  of  three  judges,  elected  for  terms  of 
three  years,  one  being  chosen  each  year,  throe  circuit  judges,  nine  district  judges,  a 
])rosecuting  attorney  or  solicitor,  and  a  sheriff  for  each  district.  The  chiefs,  membem 
of  botli  houses,  circuit  and  district  judges,  and  sheriffs,  are  elected  by  the  people, — the 
chiefs  for  four  years,  members  of  senate  and  council  for  two  years,  circuit  judges  for 
four  years,  sherifl's  and  county  judges  for  two  years.  Tlie  treasurer  of  each  nation 
receives  five  hundred  dollars  jier  annum,  and  is  (dected  for  four  years  by  joint  vote 
of  the  senate  and  council.  As  there  is  no  court  with  jurisdiction  to  try  ciises  where 
an  Indian  is  one  party  and  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  or  a  corporation  is  the  other, 
the  agent  is  compelled  to  act  as  arbitrator.  Each  party  agrees  to  abide  by  his  decision, 
subject  to  appeal  to  the  Indian  Commissioner  in  cases  involving  large  amounts. 

As  farmers  tliese  peoj)le  com])are  favorably  with  the  whites.  They  recovered 
slowly  from  the  effects  of  the  war  of  1801-05,  but  they  are  now  in  a  position,  if  not 
disturbed,  to  become  a  strong  and  wealthy  jieople.  Their  only  fear  is  that  the  United 
States  will  forget  their  national  obligations  and  in  some  way  deprive  them  of  tlieir 
lands.  They  are  willing  that  the  wild  Indians  from  the  plains  shall  he  settled  on 
their  unoccupied  lands,  but  they  emphatically  object  to  the  settlement  among  them 
of  the  wild  white  men  from  the  States.  It  is  estimated  that  there  arc  six  thousand 
citizens  of  the  United  States  living  within  the  limits  of  the  Union  Agency  who  have 
no  right  there  whatever. 

Crime  is  no  more  frequent  than  in  the  adjoining  States,  and  convictions  by  local 
authority  are  about  as  sure.  Nine-tenths  of  the  crime  in  the  Territory  is  caused  by 
whisky,  which  is  introduced  from  the  adjoining  States. 

The  ]\Ii'tli()(list,  Presbyterian,  and  IJaptist  denominations  have  missionaries  here, 
some  of  whom  have  labored  among  the  Indiiins  for  many  years.  Their  influence  has 
been  very  great.  Many  of  the  ordained  ministers  are  Indians,  and  Sunday  is  well 
observeil.  The  tribes  have  had  inilf  a  ci'utury  of  missionary  instruction,  and  a  large 
number  of  them  are  members  of  the  churches.  The  school  system  is  that  of  the 
States.  English  is  taught  exclusively.  Many  of  iJie  children  of  the  wealthy  are 
sent  East  for  education.  There  are  also  private  schools  with  good  attendance.  There 
i're  several  newspapers, — one  printe<l  at  Tahlecpiah  in  the  Cherokee  tongue,  and  one 
at  Caddo  in  the  Crvek  or  Choctaw  language.  Tahlccpiah  is  the  capital  of  the  Cher- 
okee country.  Caddo  is  the  largest  settlement  in  the  Choctaw  Nation.  Muskogee, 
in  the  Creek  country,  and  Tishomingo,  in  the  Chickasaw  country,  are  settlements  of 
moderate  size. 

The  Indian  Territory  is  an  extensive  district,  bounded  north  by  Kansas,  east  by 
^lissouri  and  Arkansas,  south  by  Texas,  and  west  by  the  one-hundredth  meridian. 
It  was  designated  by  the  Peace  Commissioners  in  hSOT  as  one  of  two  territories  (the 
other  being  in  the  main  the  present  Territory  of  Dakota)  upon  which  might  be 
concentrated  tlie  gnat  hin\y  of  all  the  Indians  east  of  the  Koeky  Mountains. 


k 


THE   TRIBES. 


339 


CHEROKEKS. 

The  Clierokecs  originally  inhabited  Southwestern  Virginia  and  South  Carolina. 
They  befriended  Oglethorpe  during  his  stay  in  Georgia,  but  kept  up  a  constant  war- 
fare with  his  successors  in  authority  until  17G3,  They  took  part  with  the  British 
against  the  colonists  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  in  which  they  were  severely  pun- 
ished and  much  reduced  in  number.  Their  first  treaty  with  the  United  States  dates 
from  1785.  It  secured  to  them  extensive  tracts  lying  witliin  the  limits  of  the  present 
Stjitcs  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee,  guaranteed  them  protec- 
tion, and  accepted  their  allegiance  to  our  government.  This  and  several  subsequent 
treaties  were  disregarded  and  disgracefully  violated  by  the  white  settlers  around 
them.  The  treaty  recognizing  the  rights  of  that  portion  of  the  tribe  which  in  1809 
had  settled  on  the  Arkansas  Itiver  was  made  in  1817,  and  foreshadowed  the  policy  of 
the  removal  of  the  others  then  east  of  the  Mississippi.  The  Western  Cherokees  in 
1828  exchanged  the  country  about  Dardanelle,  Arkansas,  for  that  which  they  now 
occupy  west  of  that  State. 

The  Eastern  Cherokees  early  experienced  the  oppressive  power  of  their  white 
neighbors.  From  the  beginning  of  the  century  they  had  been  steadily  advancing 
in  civilization :  they  had  begun  tlu  manufacture  of  cotton  cloth  in  1800,  and  soon 
all  understood  the  use  of  the  card  and  spinning-wheel ;  every  family  had  its  culti- 
vated farm ;  the  territory  was  districted,  with  a  council-house,  a  judge,  and  a 
marshal  in  each  district ;  a  National  Committee  and  Council  had  supreme  authority 
in  the  nation;  schools  and  printing-^^resses  were  flourishing;  a  system  of  juris- 
prudence was  being  perfected ;  and  missions  had  been  established,  many  Indians 
having  professed  Christianity.  Before  they  were  sufficiently  civilized  to  cope  with 
the  whites,  they  were  overrun.  The  State  of  Georgia  distributed  their  lands  by  lot 
to  the  white  citizens  in  1835,  and  their  houses,  farms,  etc.,  were  at  once  taken  pos- 
session of.  The  home  of  the  late  John  Iloss,  for  many  years  the  able  and  honored 
cliief  of  this  nation,  was  thus  aj)propriated,  and  on  his  return  from  a  mission  in  behalf 
of  his  people  he  found  himself  a  tolerated  intru<ler  in  his  own  house  and  his  own 
bed.  In  1835  the  treaty  removing  the  tribe  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi  passed 
the  United  States  Senate  by  one  majority,  in  detianoe  of  the  remonstrances  of  a 
iiiiijority  of  the  tribe,  and  the  Cherokees  were  .lOved  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet 
\\y  General  Scott  to  their  present  location.  The  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court 
were  in  fa\()r  of  the  Indians,  but  were  disregarded  by  President  Jackson. 

Fierce  dissensions  rent  the  Cherokees  for  some  years  after  this  removal.  A  large 
party  iniiu'.cal  to  it  l)itterly  hated  tliose  who,  as  they  chiimod,  had  wrongfully  signed 
away  the  nation's  lands.  Several  of  these — influential  men — were  murdered.  To 
such  an  extent  wius  the  feud  carried  that  the  United  States  wius  compelled  to  inter- 
fere, aiul  in  184(5,  after  long  dissensions,  a  new  treaty  was  made,  which  restored  com- 
parative harmony  to  the  nation. 

The  Cherokees  have  bad  a  written  form  of  constitution,  laws,  etc.,  since  1828. 


1 1 


340 


THE  INDIAN  TlilBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


During  the  robollion  tlioy  suffored  greatly,  the  tribe  being  fiercely  divided,  two 
regiments  faithfnlly  standing  by  the  Union,  and  one  going  with  the  South.  In  no 
part  of  the  country  was  the  war  waged  with  greater  destruction  of  property  or  loss 
of  life.  Nearly  one-fourth  of  the  jieople  died,  either  from  wounds  received  in  battle, 
or — iis  in  the  ease  of  the  women  and  children,  large  numbers  of  whom  perished — from 
starvation.  Terrible  as  wsis  the  war,  it  was  in  one  respect  a  benefit  to  the  Cherokees: 
it  killed  the  old  factions,  and  broke  down  the  partition-wall  of  prejudice  between  the 
half-breeds  and  the  full-bloods. 

This  nation  is  the  largest  in  numbers  and  the  most  advanced  in  civilization  of 
the  "  Five  Civilized  Tribes."  About  one-third  of  the  tribe  are  of  full  blood  and 
speak  the  native  language;  the  remainder  are  of  more  or  less  mixed  white  and 
Indian  blood,  except  about  two  thousand  negroes,  descendants  of  the  slaves  whom 
the  Cherokees  owned  in  Georgia.  These  negroes  are  on  terms  of  equality  with  the 
Cherokees,  except  that  they  do  not  intermarry  with  them. 

The  Cherokees  support  themselves  by  agriculture  and  stock-raising.  They  own 
seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-one  square  miles,  or  five  million  thirty 
thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-one  acres,  in  the  northejist  corner  of  the  Indian 
Territory.  Three-fifths  of  this  area  is  rocky  and  suitable  only  for  timber  or  pas- 
turage. According  to  the  census  of  1880,  they  nund)er  nineteen  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  twenty.  These  figures  show  an  increase  of  about  the  same  ratio  as  that 
of  the  States.  The  nation  in  1881  expended  sixty  thousand  eight  hundred  and  three 
dollars  for  educational  ])urposes.  The  public  school  system  is  good.  The  teachei-s 
are  paid  and  books  furnished  from  the  school-fund  of  the  nation.  There  are  two 
large  seminary  l)uildings,  also  an  orphan  asylum.  The  inmates  of  the  asylum,  luun- 
bering  one  hundred  and  twenty,  are  clothed,  fed,  and  educated  by  the  nation  from  a 
fund  set  ai)art  for  that  jiurposc.  Their  schools  are  taught  in  English,  and  a  news- 
jtaper,  ably  edited  by  W.  P.  Boudinot,  a  Cherokee,  is  i)ul)lished  weekly  in  the 
JCnglish  and  Cherokee  languages.  They  have  one  hundred  and  nine  schools  and 
sixty-one  churches,  with  native  teachers  and  j)astors. 

In  North  and  South  Carolina,  CJeorgia,  and  Tennessee  there  arc  two  thousanv> 
two  hundred  Cherokees,  rejiresenting  those  averse  to  removal,  and  who  elected  ti. 
remain  under  the  provisions  contained  in  the  twelfth  article  of  the  treaty  of  18;}"). 
The  government  has  no  agent  residing  with  these  Indians.  Their  condition  is  repre- 
sented to  be  deplorable.  They  were  prosperous  before  the  late  rebellion,  but  suHered 
niiKJi  during  tlie  war,  and  are  now,  from  this  and  other  causes,  greatly  impoverished. 


CUEKKH,  OK    MITSKOKIS. 

Tlie  Creeks  own  five  thousand  and  twenty-four  scpiare  miles,  or  three  million  two 
hundred  and  lifteen  thousand  four  hundretl  and  ninety-live  acres,  in  the  central 
portion  of  the  Indian  Territory,  and  number  fifteen  thousand.  In  l.S8()  they  spent 
Iwenty-eight  ihousaiid  (luce  bundreil  and  iif'ly-six  dollars  for  educational  purposes. 
Besides  their  thirty-four  public  scho(»ls,  they  have  two  high  schools.     Tallalia.s-^ee 


i. 


TUE   TRIBES. 


341 


Manual  Tiabor  School,  under  the  care  of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  with  ninety-two 
students,  and  Asbury  Manual  Labor  School,  Methodist,  with  eighty-six  students,  are 
successful  institutions.  The  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars  has  been  appropriated  by 
the  council  towards  building  a  new  mission  school  under  the  care  of  the  Southern 
Baptists,  and  one  of  three  thousand  dollars  towards  the  erection  of  a  seminary  for 
the  frcedmen  of  the  nation.  Though  generally  less  advanced  than  the  Cherokees, 
Choctaws,  and  Chickasaws,  they  are  making  rapid  progress. 

The  following  traditions  of  the  origin,  early  history,  and  customs  of  the  Creeks, 
or  Muskokis,  are  from  the  lips  of  Se-ko-pe-chi  (Perseverance),  one  of  the  oldest 
Creeks  living  in  1847  in  their  new  location  west  of  the  Mississippi. 

There  is  a  general  reluctance  on  the  part  of  the  Creeks  to  enter  upon  subjects  of 
this  character,  owing  in  a  measure  to  their  superstitious  notions,  and  more,  perhaps, 
to  their  innate  disposition  to  secrecy. 

The  admission  of  an  inter-tribal  rank  in  ancient  days  inferior  to  the  ancient 
Lenni  Lenai)e,  and  their  concurrence  in  the  gejieral  title  of  Grandfather,  ascribed  by 
the  North  Atlantic  tribes  to  that  important  branch  of  the  Algonkin  stock,  denote 
that  their  nationality  is  of  more  recent  origin  than  had  been  supposed,  and  adds 
another  proof  to  the  many  we  have  had  before  of  the  limited  character  of  the  Indian 
traditions,  and  the  recent  date  of  all  their  known  tribal  relations. 

There  is  nothing  in  these  reminiscences  of.'  Se-ko-i)e-chi  which  can  be  crijdoyed 
to  sustain  an  opinion  that  the  Muskokis  are  in  any  wise  to  be  deemed  as  l<aving 
founded  their  nationality  on  pre-existing  tribes  of  any  known  historical  era  who 
were  semi-civilized. 

Tiie  advance  of  the  miusses  in  this  tril)e  in  late  yoai-s  has  not  kept  pace  with  that 
of  the  families  of  their  chieftains.  Tiie  authority  of  the  latter,  founded  on  ancient 
distinctions  and  on  inheritance,  a[>pears  to  connnend  itself  very  generally  to  the 
resj)e('t  and  adherence  of  the  common  people. 

The  origin  of  the  Alabama  Indians,  as  handed  down  by  oral  tradition,  is  that 
they  sprang  out  of  the  ground  bi'tween  the  Cahawba  and  Alabama  Rivers. 

The  Muskokis  formerly  called  themselves  Alabamians,  but  other  tribes  called 
them  Oke-ehoy-atte  (I'fc).  The  earliest  migration  recollected,  as  handed  down  by 
iiral  tradition,  is  that  tiiey  emigrated  from  the  Cahawba  and  Alabama  Rivers  to  the 
junction  of  the  Tuscaloosa  and  Coosa  Rivers.  At  tiie  point  formed  by  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Tuscaloosa  and  Coosa  the  tribe  sojourned  for  the  space  of  two  years, 
after  which  their  location  was  at  the  junction  of  the  Coosa  and  Alabanui  Rivers,  on 
tlie  west  side  of  what  was  subsecpiently  the  site  of  Fort  Jackson.  It  is  supposed 
that  at  this  time  they  mimbered  fitly  effective  men.  They  claimcHl  the  country  from 
Fort  .Tackson  to  New  Orleans  for  their  hunting-grounds.  They  are  of  the  o|)inion 
that  the  (Jreat  Sj)irit  brought  them  from  the  ground,  and  that  they  are  the  rightful 
owners  of  this  soil.  They  lirst  became  acipiainteil  with  tlie  use  of  fire-arms,  cloth- 
ing, etc.,  through  the  Spaniards.  Ardent  spirits  have  lieen  in  use  among  tliem 
iH'yond  the  recollection  of  the  oldest  citizens.  Tiieir  first  plai'cs  of  trade  with  the 
whites  were  MobiUi  and    New  Orleans.     They  l»elieve  tluit  domestic  animals  were 


'W 


mi 
If 


I  i< 


iHi:    '¥ 


■  w 


It; 


342 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


.i'.M  im:  ■  W: 


introduced  by  the  whites.  They  have  no  knowledge  of  their  old  lands  having  been 
occui>ied  before  thera  by  the  whites,  or  by  a  more  civilized  people  than  themselves, 
but  they  do  believe  that  they  were  originally  occupied  by  a  people  of  whom  they 
have  no  definite  knowledge. 

The  only  name  they  have  for  America  is  "  the  land  of  the  red  people."  They 
have  no  oral  tradition  of  any  other  name  for  it.  In  the  reminiscenc'^s  of  their 
former  condition  they  state  that  they  enjoyed  a  greater  degree  of  peace  before  the 
discovery  of  the  continent  by  the  whites  than  they  did  afterwards.  They  had  no 
treaties,  no  alliances  or  leagues,  previous  to  the  discovery.  They  erected  breastworks 
of  a  circular  shape  for  the  protection  of  their  families.  They  pride  themselves  most 
upon  killing  their  enemies,  and  memorialize  these  events  by  hieroglyphics  and  by 
various  personal  decorations.  Their  greatest  source  of  grief  was  the  death  of  a  son, 
brother,  father,  or  mother.  They  claim  to  have  conquered  a  people  who  wended 
tlieir  way  south,  and  assert  that  they  themselves  had  never  been  conquered  until 
their  conflicts  with  the  whites. 

Tlie  present  rulers  of  the  nation  consist  of  a  first  and  a  second  chief,  who,  in  con- 
nection with  the  town  chiefs,  administer  the  afihirs  of  the  nation  in  general  council. 
Their  j)rineipal  chief.  General  Roly  Mcintosh,  was  of  Scotch  descent,  and  the  second 
chief,  Benjamin  Marshall,  was  of  Irish  extraction.  Both  were  friends  of  the  white 
man.  Tlie  former  fouglit  under  General  Andrew  Jackson  against  the  hostile  Indians. 
The  tribe  at  present  is  in  a  very  prosperous  condition,  and  rapidly  increasing.  The 
Creeks  first  commenced  migrating  to  their  new  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  in 
piii-tios  in  1828,  between  which  period  and  1837  the  principal  part  of  the  migration 
took  place.  The  causes  which  led  to  their  removal  to  their  present  location  were  a 
treaty  with  the  United  States  and  an  unwillingness  to  fall  under  the  State  laws  of 
Georgia  and  Alabama.  This  feeling  still  exists  among  them.  They  have  doubts 
about  their  l)eiug  prepsired  to  take  part  in  deliberative  a.ssemblies. 

The  Southwestern  tribes  occupy  diflerent  st;iges  in  civilization,  some  being  almost 
wholly  civilized,  others  partly  so;  others,  again,  retaining  the  wandering  habits  of 
their  forefathers,  may  with  projiriety  be  termed  hunter-tribes.  All  the  Southwestern 
tribes  speak  ditterent  languages,  excej)i.  perhaps  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  and 
the  Creeks  and  Seminoles,  tribes  whose  languages  have  a  strong  affinity  to  one 
another,  that  of  the  Choctaws  having  a  likeness  to  the  (Jhiekasaw  tongue,  while  tiie 
Creek  language  resembles  that  of  the  Seminoles.  The  different  tribes  do  not  under- 
stanil  one  another.  There  is  no  common  interest  among  the  people ;  for  what  would 
be  to  the  advantage  of  the  hunters  would  only  induce  the  agriculturists  to  idle; 
away  their  time  and  neglect  their  farms.  Nor  is  there  any  commercial  intercourse 
worth  speaking  of  among  them :  in  fact,  there  is  little  intercourse  of  any  kind,  if 
we  except  the  traific  in  stolen  horses.  Tlieir  opiniims  and  customs  in  many  re- 
spects are  different :  that  which  is  regarded  as  a  virtue  by  the  civilized  Indians  is 
considered  as  a  weakness  by  the  hunters,  and  actions  wliicli  are  viewed  as  manly  and 
heroic  by  the  wandering  tribes  are  looked  upon  as  vices  when  practised  among  tiie 
semi-civilized. 


THE  TRIBES. 


343 


The  Muskokis  speak  six  different  dialects, — viz.,  ]Miis-ko-ki,  Hitch-i-tee,  Nau-chee, 
Eu-chee,  Alabama,  and  Aquas-saw-tcc.  The  Creeks,  although  speaking  these  dif- 
ferent dialects,  understand  generally  the  received  language  of  the  nation,  which  is 
the  Muskoki  or  Creek  language,  and  consequently  the  business  with  the  government 
requires  but  one  interpreter. 

The  relationship  which  this  tribe  Ijears  to  the  other  tribes  is  that  of  Grandchild 
to  the  Delawares  and  Senccas.  Their  traditions  iussign  them  a  medium  position  in 
the  political  scale  of  the  tribes.  Whether  this  relationship  is  sanctioned  by  the  tra- 
dition of  all  other  tribes  is  not  known,  but  by  some  it  is.  Discordant  pretensions  to 
original  rank  and  affinities  of  blood  have  never  been  set  up  among  the  Muskokis. 
They  have  no  method  by  which  blood  aflinities  can  be  settled  in  cases  of  difficulty. 
The  kindredship  of  the  tribe  is  denoted  by  terms  taken  from  the  vocabulary  of  the 
family  ties.  The  clans  are  made  up  of  families,  each  clan  adoiiting  its  own  peculiar 
badge,  such  as  crocodile,  bear,  bird,  etc.  It  is  supposed  that  these  badges  denote  rank 
or  relationship. 

Major  Caleb  Swan,  in  his  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War  in  1791,  gave  the 
following  account  of  the  origin,  history,  and  customs  of  the  Muskoki  or  Creek 
Indians,  and  the  Seminoles : 

"  Tradition  handed  down  from  one  generation  to  another  has  established  a  general 
belief  among  them  (which  may  be  true)  that  a  long  time  ago  some  strange,  wander- 
ing clans  of  Indians  from  the  northwest  found  their  way  down  to  the  present  country 
of  the  Seminolies ;  there,  meeting  with  plenty  of  game,  they  settled  themselves  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  then  powerful  tribes  of  the  Florida  and  Appalachian  Indians;  and 
for  iome  time  they  remained  on  a  friendly  footing  with  each  other.  The  new-comers 
were  styled  Seminolies,  signifying  Avanderers,  or  lost  men. 

"These  wanderers  from  the  north  increased  in  numbers,  and  at  length  became 
so  powerful  a  body  liS  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  their  Appalachian  neighbors.  Wars 
ensued,  and  finally  the  Seminolies  became  masters  of  the  country.  The  remnants 
of  the  Ai)palachians  were  totally  destroyed  by  the  Creeks  in  1719. 

"  In  process  of  time  the  game  of  the  country  was  found  insufficient  to  support 
their  increasing  numbers.  Some  clans  and  families  emigrated  northward,  and  took 
possession  of  the  present  district  of  the  Cowetas :  having  established  themselves  there, 
other  emigrations  followed,  and  in  time  spread  themselves  eastward  as  far  as  thf 
Ocmulgee  Iliver,  and  other  waters  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  and  westward  as 
'■■r  as  the  Tallapoosa  and  Coosa  Rivers,  which  are  the  main  branches  of  the  Ala- 
liaiiia.  Here  tliey  were  encountered  by  tlie  Alabama  nation,  whom  they  afterwards 
(•()n(jiien'd,  and,  by  restoring  to  them  their  lands  and  river,  gained  their  attachment, 
and  tiu'v  were  incorporated  with  the  Creek  nation.  The  Creeks  became  famous  for 
tlieir  abilities  and  warlike  powers,  and,  being  possessed  of  a  well-watered  country, 
were  distinguished  from  their  aiu'estoi-s  (tlie  Seminolies  of  the  low  barren  country) 
by  the  name  of  Creeks  or  Miiseogios.  The  kind  soil,  [Hire  water  and  air  of  their 
cDuntry  being  favorable  to  their  constitutions  as  warriors,  have  perhaps  contributed 
to  give  them  a  character  superior  to  most  of  llie  nations  that  surround  them. 


■■\  m 


'HVi 


it! 


H 

^B|1.  ' 

r  .liM 

^^Hi    . 

'    t,; 

1 

lip! 

I 

If 


■'hi 


lit;- 
Ife, 


344 


ra/;   INDIAN   TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


"TI  If  mimbors  have  increased  faster  by  the  acquisition  of  foreign  subjects  than 
by  the  increase  of  tiie  ori}i;inal  stock.  It  appears  long  to  have  been  a  maxim  of  their 
policy  to  give  etpial  liberty  and  protection  to  tribes  conquered  by  themselves,  as  well 
jis  to  those  vancpiishcd  by  others,  although  ma?iy  individuals  taken  in  war  are  slaves 
among  them,  and  tlicir  children  are  called  'of  the  slave  race,'  and  cannot  arrive  to 
much  honorary  distinction  in  the  country  on  that  account. 

"  The  Alabamas  and  Coosades  are  said  to  be  the  lii-st  who  adopted  the  ceremonies 
and  customs  of  the  Creeks  and  became  part  of  the  nation.  The  Natchez,  or  Sunset 
Indians,  from  the  Mississippi,  joined  the  Creeks  about  fifty  years  since,  after  being 
driven  out  of  Louisiana,  and  added  considerably  to  their  confederative  body.  And 
now  the  Shawanese,  called  by  them  Sawanes,  are  joining  them  in  large  numbers 
every  year,  having  already  four  towns  on  the  Tallapoosa  lliver  that  contain  near 
three  hundred  war  men,  and  more  are  soon  expected. 

"Soon  after  the  settlement  of  South  Carolina  an  intercourse  and  trade  took  place 
from  Fort  JMoor,  in  that  j)rovincc,  between  the  white  peoi)le  and  the  lower  Creeks, 
which  appears  to  have  been  the  first  communication  they  had  with  British  subjects ; 
before  this  they  traded  altogether  with  the  French  of  Louisiana  and  the  people  of 
IVnsacola  and  St.  Mark's.  The  upper  Creeks  continued  to  send  all  their  skins  to  the 
l'"'rench  of  Mobile  for  many  years  after  the  trade  of  the  lower  Creeks  had  been  drawn 
into  South  Carolina. 

"  In  1732,  when  the  colony  of  Georgia  was  founded  by  General  Oglethorpe,  he 
called  eight  tribes  of  the  lower  Creeks  to  a  treaty  in  Savannah.  lie  states  the  num- 
ber of  wariiors  in  these  tribes  then  to  have  been  thirteen  hundred.  By  the  kind 
treatment  and  good  management  of  Governor  Oglethorpe,  they  soon  became  strongly 
attached  to  the  British  interest. 

"  The  French  of  Louisiana,  jealous  of  this  step,  immediately  sent  troops  and 
agents  among  the  upper  Creeks,  and  erected  a  fort  at  Little  Tallassie  of  fourteen 
guns.  By  estjiblishing  a  jiost  in  the  midst  of  them,  they  found  means  to  attnch  them 
to  the  French  people, — the  Choctaws  being  before  in  their  interest,  as  well  as  the 
Chickasaws  and  lower  Cherokees.  In  173!),  General  Oglethorpe  called  his  allies 
(the  lower  Creeks)  to  a  conference  at  the  Cowetas,  anil  attended  in  person.  He 
renewed  the  former  treaties,  and  confirmed  them  in  their  attachment  to  the  British 
government.  At  this  conference  deputies  attended  from  the  Oakfiiskies,  Choctaws, 
Cliickasaws,  and  Cherokees.  The  Ciierokees  and  Creeks  afterwards  joiiu'd  the 
British  in  an  expedition  against  tiie  Spaniards  at  St.  Augustine  in  the  year  174'2. 

"  Jt  appears  that  after  1732  the  affections  of  the  upper  and  lower  Creeks  were 
divided  between  the  French  and  Knglish  until  tlie  peace  of  1703,  when  the  FIoridiLs 
were  ceded  to  the  English,  and  the  French  fort,  '  Aliabamous,'  at  Little  Tallassie, 
was  then  abandoned.  The  British  kept  up  a  captain's  command  at  this  fort  for  some 
years  after  the  peace  of  17<i3,  but  at  that  time,  j)ossessing  all  the  country  eiustward 
and  southward,  to  which  the  Indians  were  ol)liged  to  come  to  trade,  the  British  with- 
drew their  troops,  and  sent  numl)ers  of  agents  and  commissaries  aiuong  them,  by 
wIhcIi  means  they  eU'ectually  attached  tiiem  to  tiie  'great  king  over  t.ij  water.'     By 


^-— 


THE    TRIBES. 


345 


pursuing  the  Bame  policy  with  the  Choctaws,  Oiickasaws,  and  Clierokees,  they 
monopolized  all  the  trade  of  these  four  great  nations  until  the  American  Revolution ; 
and  indeed  during  the  war  of  1812-15,  just  as  it  had  heen  ever  since  the  peace  of 
1783,  tiieir  trade  was  beneficial  only  to  Britinh  suhjecte. 

"  Their  strong  prejudices  in  favor  of  the  English  nation  are  carefully  kept  alive 
by  tories  and  renegades  of  every  sort,  who  are  constantly  among  them ;  and  their 
hatred  of  the  Spaniards  is  eciually  evident  and  implacable. 

"  Their  ruling  passion  seems  to  be  war,  and  their  mode  of  conducting  it  con- 
stitutes some  part  of  their  general  government.     And  next  they  are  devoted  to 


I;" 


hunting. 


"Their  beloved  great  man,  Alexander  McGillivray,  who  left  Georgia  in  disgust 
about  the  year  1776  and  attached  himself  to  the  upper  Creeks,  among  whom  he  was 
born,  by  the  advice  of  his  father  immediately  set  about  placing  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  nation.  His  kindred  and  family  connection  in  the  country  and  his  evident 
abilities  soon  gave  him  such  inllucncc  among  them  that  the  liritish  made  him  their 
commissary,  with  the  rank  and  pay  of  lieutenant-colonel,  under  Colonel  Brown,  then 
sujierintendent. 

"After  the  English  had  abandoned  the  nation,  in  1782,  this  man  found  it  neces- 
sary, in  order  to  carry  on  the  war  with  success  against  the  Georgians,  to  undertake 
a  reform  in  the  policy  of  the  nation,  which  had  for  a  long  time  been  divided  by 
faction. 

"  He  effected  a  tot;il  revolution  in  one  of  their  most  ancient  customs  by  placing 
(he  warriors  in  all  cases  over  the  micos,  or  kings,  who,  though  not  active  as  warriors, 
were  always  considered  as  important  counsellors.  The  micos  resisted  this  mciisure 
for  some  time,  and  the  struggle  became  at  last  so  serious  that  the  chief  had  one 
Sullivan  and  two  others,  jmrtisans  of  the  micos,  put  to  death  in  the  public  squares. 
They  were  all  tiiree  white  men  who  had  ui)(k'r*iken  to  lead  the  faction  against  him, 
liut  be  finally  crushed  the  insurgents  and  etlected  his  jturposes. 

"The  spirit  of  opposition  still  remained  against  him  in  the  old  Tallassie  king, 
Opiith  Mico,  who,  with  his  clan,  pronounced  McGillivray  a  boy  and  a  usurjier, 
tiiking  steps  that  must  be  de-)gatory  to  his  family  and  injiiriiuis  to  his  intkuiice; 
iiiiil  under  these  circumstances  .  e  undertook  to  treat  separately  with  the  Georgians. 
The  coiisecpiences  were  that  his  houses  were  burnt  in  his  al)seuce,  and  his  corn  and 
cattle  destroyed.  Notwithstanding,  he  remained  refractory  for  a  long  time,  as  well 
as  some  of  the  most  importiint  people  of  the  lower  towns,  until,  finding  the  Georgians 
were  hostile  to  them  indiscriminately,  and  that  a  Mr.  Alexander  had  killed  twelve 
of  their  real  friends  (the  Cussitahs),  they  dropped  their  internal  disputes  and  united 
all  their  ellbrts,  under  the  great  chief,  against  the  frontier  settlers. 

"There  is  but  one  institution  in  the  nation  that  resembles  civilization.  It  was 
introduced  by  McGillivray,  ami,  although  sometimes  observed,  is  oftener  dispensed 
with. 

"  If  an  Indian  steals  a  horse,  he  is  obliged  by  this  law  to  return  him,  or  another 
of  e(pial  value,  and  pay  a  fine  of  thirty  chalks,  or  fifteen  tloUars ;  if  he  is  unable  to 

44 


'V 


Bi-'' 


346 


THE  INDIAN  r HIRES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


do  so,  he  may  be  tied  and  whipped  thirty  lashes  hy  the  injured  party.  But,  as  in 
other  cases,  the  infliction  of  punishment  depends  at  htst  on  the  superior  force  of  the 
injured  party. 

"  When  the  inhabitants  of  any  particular  town  arc  notorious  for  horse-stealing, 
or  have  acted  otherwise  unadvisedly,  the  chief  has  the  entire  power  of  punishing 
them  collectively  by  removing  the  white  man  from  among  them  and  depriving  thenj 
of  trade.     Tins  at  once  humbles  them  most  effectually. 

"  Scarcely  a  day  passes  but  complaints  or  accusations  of  some  kind  or  other  are 
laid  before  Mr.  McGillivray  by  some  Indian  or  white  trader.  His  uniform  method 
of  proceeding  is  cautiously  to  hear  the  evidence  of  the  parties,  and  never  to  decide 
on  the  case.  By  putting  off  the  trial  from  one  time  to  another,  the  parties  at  length 
forget  their  resentments,  and  often  compromise  the  quarrel  between  themselves.  It 
is  good  policy  in  the  chief  not  to  give  decisions  in  the  disputes  of  his  people,  for  all 
his  systems  would  not  defend  him  against  the  effects  of  the  resentment  of  the  party 
against  whom  he  might  in  justice  be  obliged  to  give  an  opinion.  It  is  a  maxim  of 
his  policy  to  give  protection  to  outlaws,  debtors,  thieves,  and  murderers  from  all  parts 
of  the  country,  who  hav(^  in  consequence  fled  in  great  numbers  from  the  hands  of 
justice  and  found  an  asylum  in  the  Creek  nation.  The  whites  living  among  the 
Indians  (with  very  few  exceptions)  are  the  most  abandoned  wretches  that  can  be 
found,  perhaps,  on  this  side  of  Botany  Bay ;  there  is  scarcely  a  crime  but  some  one 
of  them  hius  been  guilty  of.  Most  of  the  traders  and  all  their  hirelings  and  pack- 
horse-men  are  of  the  above  description." 

The  Creek  war  of  1812-14,  successfully  terminated  by  General  Andrew  Jackson, 
dealt  a  terrible  blow  to  the  prosperity  of  this  trib*>.  Thousands  of  their  warriors 
were  slain,  the  greater  j)art  of  their  towns  were  destroyed,  and  the  Creek  nation, 
formerly  so  arrogant,  wius  effectually  humbled. 


t'lIOCTAWS. 

The  Choctaws  own  ten  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty  square  miles,  or  six  mil- 
lion six  hundred  and  eighty-eight  thousand  acres,  in  the  souihciLst  corner  of  the 
Indian  Territory.  They  number  nearly  sixteen  thousand.  In  1880  they  paid 
thirty-one  thousand  seven  hundred  dollars  for  educational  purposes,  besides  four 
thousand  two  lumdred  dollars  for  the  education  of  students  sent  to  colleges  in  the 
States.  They  have  fifty-nine  common  schools  and  two  seminaries, — "  New  Hope," 
with  llfty-one  girls,  and  "  Spencer  Academy,"  with  sixty  male  students.  The  schools 
are  in  a  flourishing  condition. 

Among  the  Clioctjiws  there  are  three  thousand  negroes,  descendants  of  their 
former  slaves,  whom  the  government  in  18(!()  stipulated  to  remove  and  j)r()vide  for. 
It  hiis  done  neither,  and  the  blacks  are  almost  wholly  destitute  of  school  privileges. 
The  tribe  made  its  first  treaty  with  the  United  States  January  '.\,  178(>,  and  its  first  ces- 
sion of  hinds  in  ISO'J.  In  IS'JO  it  expended  ninety-six  liiousand  dollars  for  schools, 
provided  for  the  deaf  and  diniil),  and  appropriated  lit'ly-l'our  sections  of  land  to  be 


4: 


THE   TRIBES. 


347 


Bold  for  educational  purposes.  It  bad  a  code  of  written  laws  in  1826,  and  the  first 
law  passed  by  tbe  CbocUiw  nation  after  it  crossed  tbe  Mississippi  was  a  liquor  law 
similar  to  tbat  long  afterwards  known  as  tbe  "  Maine  Liquor  Law."  Tbe  Cboctaws 
and  Cbickasaws  originally  inbabited  tbe  territory  now  embraced  witbiu  tbe  State  of 
Missitisippi. 

ClIICKASAWS. 

Tbe  Cbickasaws  are  a  progressive  people,  and  bave  many  wealtby  citizens.  Tbey 
own  seven  tbousand  two  bundred  and  sixty-seven  square  miles,  or  four  million 
six  bundred  and  fifty  tbousand  nine  bundred  and  eigbty-five  acres,  adjoining  tbe 
("boctaws  on  tbe  west,  and  tbey  number  about  six  tbousand.  Tbe  nation  expends 
iifty-eigbt  tbousand  dollars  a  year  for  educational  purposes,  and  in  proportion  to  its 
numbers  luis  more  seminaries  and  more  students  in  attendance  tban  any  otber  of  tbe 
five  civilized  tribes.  Tbe  Cbicka.saw  Male  Academy,  tbe  Bloomfield  Female  Semi- 
nary, tbe  Wa-pa-mucka  scbool,  and  tbe  Orpban  Scbool  are  well  managed  and  suc- 
cessful. Tbe  same  trouble  exists  among  tbe  Cbickasaws  in  regard  to  tbe  status  of  tbe 
negro  as  among  tbe  Cboctaws.  Tbere  are  a  large  number  of  wbite  intruders  upon 
tbeir  lands. 

Tins  tribe  first  entered  into  treaty  witb  tbe  United  States  January  10,  1786. 
Tbey  first  ceded  tbeir  lands  in  Mississippi  in  1805,  completed  tbe  cession  at  Ponto- 
toc in  1832,  and  united  in  government  witb  tbe  CbocUxws,  wbo  speak  tbe  same 
language  and  witb  wbom  tbey  are  intermixed,  in  1837.  The  funds  of  tbe  Cbick- 
iisiiws  in  tbe  bands  of  tbe  government,  for  lands  ceded,  are  aiu])le  for  tbe  purposes  of 
educating  every  member  of  tbe  tribe,  and  of  making  tbe  most  liberal  provision  for 
tlii'ir  advancement  in  agriculture  and  tbe  arts. 

Tbe  Cbickasaws  say  tbey  originally  came  from  tbe  West,  and  tbat  a  part  of  tbeir 
tril)e  remained  tbere.  Wben  about  to  start  eastward,  tbey  were  provided  witb  a 
liirge  dog  as  a  guard  and  a  pole  jus  guide.  Tbe  dog  would  give  tbem  notice  wbcnever 
an  enemy  was  near  at  band,  and  tluis  enable  tbem  to  make  tbeir  arrangements  to 
receive  tbe  foe.  Tbe  pole  tbey  would  plant  in  tbe  ground  every  nigbt,  and  tbe  next 
morning  tbey  would  look  at  it,  and  go  in  tbe  direction  in  wbicb  it  leaned.  Tbey 
continued  tbeir  journey  in  tbis  way  until  tbey  crossed  tbe  great  Mississippi  River. 
( )n  tbe  waters  of  tbe  Alabama  River,  tbey  arrived  in  tbe  country  about  wbere  Ilunts- 
ville,  Alabama,  now  is.  Tbere  tbe  pole  wiui  unsettled  for  several  days,  but  finally  it 
scttb'd,  and  pointed  in  a  soutbwest  direction.  Tbey  tben  started  on  tbat  course, 
|ilaiiting  tbe  pole  every  nigbt,  until  tbey  got  to  wbat  is  called  tbe  Cbickiusaw  Old 
l''i('lds,  wbere  tbe  pole  stood  perfectly  erect.  All  tbe  people  tben  came  to  tbe  con- 
clusion tbat  tbis  wiis  tbe  Promised  Land,  and  tbere  tbey  accordingly  renuiined  until 
they  emigrated  to  tbe  lands  west  of  tbe  State  of  Arkansas,  in  1837  and  1838. 

While  tbe  pole  wius  in  an  unsettled  situation,  a  part  of  tbe  tribe  moved  on 
('list,  and  became  mixed  witb  tbe  Creek  Indians,  but  as  soon  as  the  majority  of  the 
tribe  settled  at  the  Old  Fields  tbey  sent  for  tbis  party,  who  answered  that  they  were 
very  tired,  and  would  rest  awhile  wbere  tbey  were.    Tbis  clan  was  called  Cusb-eb-tab. 


M. 


■I  'i 


H  " 


1 1'  ' 


348 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


pHpf 


I'lVRi 


,  1 

i 


They  iiovcr  Joined  the  parent  tribe,  but  tbey  iilwayH  remained  friendly  to  it  until  tliey 
eunie  in  eontact  with  the  wiiites;  then  they  became  a  separate  nation. 

In  their  tradition  of  travelling  from  the  Wewt  to  the  East  the  Chickaflaws  have  no 
recollection  of  croHHing  any  large  watcr-courHC  except  the  MiswisHij)pi  Kiver.  When 
they  were  travelling  from  the  West  to  the  Promised  Land  in  the  East  they  had 
enemies  on  all  sides,  and  had  to  light  their  way  through,  but  they  cannot  give  the 
names  of  the  peoj)le  they  fought  with  while  travelling. 

Tiiey  were  informed  when  they  left  the  West  that  they  might  look  for  whites; 
that  the  wiiite  men  would  come  from  the  Eiwt;  and  the  red  men  were  to  be  on  their 
guard,  and  to  avoid  the  whites,  lest  the  hitter  should  bring  all  nuinncr  of  vice  among 
them. 

They  say  that  they  believe  in  a  Great  Spirit,  and  that  they  were  created  by  him  ; 
but  they  do  not  believe  in  any  punishment  after  death ;  they  believe  that  the  spirit 
will  leave  the  body  as  soon  as  they  die,  and  that  it  will  assume  the  shape  of  the 
body,  and  move  about  among  the  Chickiusaws  in  great  joy.  When  one  of  the  Chick- 
asaws  dies,  they  put  his  finest  clothing  on  him,  with  all  his  jewelry,  beads,  etc. ; 
this,  they  say,  is  to  give  the  dead  a  good  appearance.  The  sick  are  frequently  thus 
dressed  before  they  die.  They  believe  that  the  spirits  of  all  the  Chickasawa  will  go 
back  to  Mississippi,  and  join  the  spirits  of  those  that  have  died  there,  and  then  all 
the  spirits  will  return  to  the  West  before  the  world  is  ilestroyed  by  fire.  They  say 
tiuit  the  world  was  once  destroyed  by  water ;  that  the  water  covered  all  the  earth ; 
that  some  nuule  rafts  to  save  themselves,  but  something  like  large  white  beavers 
would  cut  the  strings  of  the  raf\s  and  drown  the  people.  One  family  was  saved,  and 
two  of  every  kind  of  animal.  They  believe  that  when  the  world  is  to  be  destroyed 
by  fire  it  will  rain  down  blood  and  oil. 

When  they  are  sick  they  send  for  a  doctor,  for  they  have  several  doctors  among 
them.  After  looking  at  the  sick  perscm  awhile,  the  family  leave  the  patient  and  the 
doctor  alone.  The  latter  then  commences  singing  and  shaking  a  gounl  over  the 
patient.  This  is  done  not  to  cure,  but  to  find  out  what  is  the  disea.'^e.  As  the  doctor 
sings  his  songs,  he  watches  the  patient  closely,  and  finds  out  which  song  pleasi's. 
Then  he  determines  what  tiie  diseiuse  is.  He  then  uses  herbs  and  roots,  and  resorts 
to  steaming  and  conjuring.  The  doctor  frequently  recommends  to  have  a  large  feast, 
which  is  called  Tonsh-pa-shoo-i)hah.  If  the  patient  is  tolerably  well  off,  and  remains 
sick  for  two  or  three  weeks,  they  may  have  two  or  three  Tonsh-pa-shoo-phahs.  They 
eat,  dance,  and  sing  at  a  great  rate  at  these  fea.sts.  The  doctors  say  that  it  raises  tiie 
courage  of  the  sick,  and  weakens  the  evil  spirit. 

They  say  they  got  the  first  corn  just  after  the  flood ;  that  a  raven  flew  over  them 
and  dropped  a  j)art  of  an  ear  of  corn,  and  they  were  told  to  plant  it  by  the  Great 
Spirit,  and  it  grew  up ;  that  they  worked  in  the  soil  around  it  with  their  fingers. 
They  never  had  any  kind  of  metallic  tools.  When  tiu'y  wanted  logs  or  poles  a 
cert4iin  lengtii,  they  had  to  burn  them ;  and  they  made  heads  for  their  arrows  out  of 
a  white  kind  of  lliiit-rock.  They  say  that  it  has  not  been  more  than  a  hundred 
years  since  they  lirst  saw  cattle,  horses,  and  hogs. 


THE  TRIBES. 


849 


After  their  Hettlcment  in  MiHwisHippi  they  Imd  Bcveral  warn,  all  (Icfonsivc ;  they 
fouglit  with  the  CiioctawH,  and  came  ofl'  victorious ;  witli  tlie  CreelcH,  and  killed 
Hcvcral  hiiiidred  of  them,  and  drove  the  invaders  oil";  with  the  Cherokees,  Kickapoos, 
OsagoH,  and  Heveral  other  tribes  of  Indians,  all  of  whom  they  defeated. 

A  large  number  of  French  landed  once  at  the  Chickasuw  Blufl',  where  Memphis 
(Tennessee)  is  now,  and  made  an  attack  on  the  ChickasawH,  but  were  driven  off  with 
great  loss.  At  one  time  a  large  body  of  Creeks  came  to  the  Chickasaw  country  to 
kill  them  all,  and  take  their  country.  The  Chickasiiws  had  received  information  of 
their  approach,  and  built  a  fort,  assisted  by  Cajjtain  David  Smith  and  forty-five  Ten- 
nesseans.  The  Creeks  came,  and  but  few  returned  to  the  Creek  Nation  to  tell  the 
sad  tale  of  their  slaughter. 

The  government  of  the  Chickasaws,  until  they  moved  to  the  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, had  a  king  whom  they  called  Minko;  and  there  is  a  clan  or  family  by  that 
name  that  the  king  is  taken  from.  The  kingship  is  hereditary  through  the  female 
line.  At  the  time  of  their  removal  they  had  chiefs  out  of  diiVerent  families  or 
clans. 

The  highest  clan  next  to  that  called  Minko  is  the  Sho-wa.  The  next  chief  to  the 
king  is  out  of  this  clan.  The  next  is  Co-ish-to,  and  the  second  chief  is  out  of  this 
clan.  The  next  is  Oush-peh-ne.  The  next  is  Min-ne ;  and  the  lowest  clan  is  called 
Ilus-co-na.  Runners  and  waiters  are  taken  from  this  family.  When  the  chiefs 
thought  it  necessary  to  hold  a  council,  they  would  go  to  the  king  and  rtMjuest  him  to 
call  a  council.  He  would  then  send  one  of  his  runners  out  to  inform  the  pcoj)!© 
that  a  council  would  1)C  held  at  such  a  time  and  place.  When  they  convenetl,  the 
king  would  take  his  seat.  The  runners  then  placed  each  chief  in  his  proper  place. 
All  the  talking  and  business  was  done  by  the  chiefs.  If  they  passed  a  law,  they 
informed  the  king  of  it.  If  he  consented  to  it,  it  wius  a  law ;  if  he  refused,  the  chiefs 
could  nevertheless  make  it  a  law,  provided  every  chief  was  in  favor  of  it.  If  one 
chief  refused  to  give  his  consent,  the  law  was  lost. 

As  to  the  large  mounds  that  are  in  Mississippi,  the  Indians  do  not  know  whether 
they  are  natural  or  artificial.  They  say  these  mounds  were  there  when  the  tribe 
fii-st  got  to  the  country.  The  mounds  are  called  "  navels"  by  the  Chickasaws.  They 
thought  that  the  Mississippi  was  the  centre  of  the  earth,  and  those  mounds  were 
as  the  navel  of  a  man  in  the  centre  of  his  body. 

8KMINOLES. 

The  Seminoles,  whose  attempted  removal  from  Florida  to  the  West,  in  1835, 
occasioned  the  most  troublesome  and  costly  of  the  luviian  wars  in  which  our  govern- 
ment has  ever  been  engaged,  own  three  hundred  and  twelve  and  one-half  square 
miles,  or  two  hundred  thousand  acres,  in  the  Indian  Territory,  adjoining  the  Creeks 
on  the  west,  and  number  two  thousand  six  hundretl  and  thirty-six.  In  1880  they 
spent  seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for  educatioiuil  purposes.  They  have  six 
public  schools  and  one  boarding-school  under  the  care  of  the  Presbyterian  Board. 


!  -'fl 


800 


TUK  INDIAN  TJilliES  OF  TJlh'    UNlTF.l)  STATh'H. 


Tiicy  cultivuto  H(>vi>iiteon  thousand  iicroH,  live  in  log  Iiouhoh,  and  own  largo  Htocka 
of  cattle,  li()rH(>H,  and  Hwine.  Tlicm;  pi'oplv,  whom  it  wa^  tiiu  iauliion  at  onu  tinio  to 
call  "roptiicH"  and  "  rattli'HnakoH,"  aru  making  rapid  HtridcH  to  ovvrtako  their  nioru 
advanced  bretiiren,  and  in  a  tew  yearH  they  will  be  e((ual  to,  and  in  Honic  rcHpcctM 
even  in  advance  of,  the  peo|de  of  the  adjoining  Staten. 

The  CrcekH  Hold  landH  to  the  United  HtatcH  on  which  to  locate  the  HeniinoleH,  but 
by  Home  nuHcalculation  they  were  located  on  lan<lH  which  the  Creekn  had  never  Hold, 
und  on  these  the  HeminolcH  have  Hinco  made  improvements.  Thin  circnmHt4inco 
is  a  source  of  great  trouble  between  these  tribes.  A  few  Seminoles,  Hupposed  to 
number  about  three  hundred,  Htill  remain  in  Florida,  i^ittle  is  known  respecting 
them.  Home  of  the  tribe  removed  to  its  present  location  under  the  provinions  of  the 
treaties  of  18;}2  and  18;ia. 


NATC'lli;/. 

The  Natchez  Indians  are  of  the  Maya  stock,  and,  with  the  Tensas,  a  kindred 
tribe,  held  a  tract  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  According  to  their  tradition, 
they  came  from  the  tSouthwcst  in  consecpience  of  wars  with  the  ancient  inhal)itanls. 
They  were  mild,  friendly,  and  brave,  though  peaceable,  but  very  dissolute.  They 
used  bows  and  arrows,  dressed  in  bulfalo  robes,  made  featlusr  robes  for  winter,  and 
had  garments  for  sunuuer  nnide  of  the  bark  of  the  mulberry  and  of  ilax.  After  the 
advent  of  French  and  English  traders  they  rapidly  declined.  In  1710  liienvillu 
comjK'llcd  them  to  give  up  some  mjinlerers,  and  built  a  fort  in  their  territory.  A 
renewal  of  hostilities  in  1722  caused  him  to  burn  one  of  their  villages  and  compel 
tlu'iii  to  punish  tht?  K"''0''  -'^  general  massacre  of  the  French  in  their  territories 
began  November  28,  172J>,  in  which  the  Choctaws  and  Chickiusaws  also  engaged,  and 
only  a  few  French  escaped.  Attacked  January  27,  17:50,  by  Lesueur,  with  a  larger 
(Choctaw  force,  eighty  of  the  Natche/ w^re  killed,  and  many  captives  were  recovered. 
in  17'il,  (iovcrnor  IVrrii-r  fought  ihem  on  IMack  Itiver,  west  of  the  Mississipj)i,  and 
captured  a  large  luimber,  including  the  Sun  and  other  |)rincipal  chiefs,  who  were 
taken  to  San  Domingo  and  sold  as  slaves.  The  remmmt  of  the  tribe  lied  to  tla? 
('hicka.saws,  but  never  rcaj)peared  as  a  distinct  nation.  They  afterwarils  joined  the 
Muskokis,  and  in  18;{.')  were  reduced  to  three  hundred  in  inind»er. 

The  Natchez  Indians  were  first  visited  by  La  Salle  in  l()81-82.  Tonty,  his  lieu- 
teiiiint,  entering  the  great  town  of  the  Tensas,  an  allied  people,  gazed  at  it  with 
astonisliinent.  He  had  seen  nothing  lik(f  it  in  Am.-rica.  Larg((  sijiiarc!  dwellings, 
built  of  sun-baked  nuid  mixed  with  stone,  and  arched  over  with  a  dome-shaped  roof 
of  canes,  were  placed  in  regular  order  annuul  an  ojten  area.  Two  of  them  were 
larger  and  better  than  the  rest;  one  was  the  lodge  of  the  chief,  the  other  wius  the 
temjile  or  the  house  of  the  Sun.  The  Frenchmen  repaired  to  the  temple  wherein 
were  kept  the  bones  of  the  departed  chiefs.  In  construction  it  wius  much  like  the 
royal  dwelling.  Over  it  were  rude  wooden  figures  representing  three  eagles  turned 
towards  the  eiust.  A  strong  mud  wall  surrounded  the  tcmph',  planted  witii  stakes, 
on  which  were  fixed  tho  skulls  of  slain  enemies  sacrificed  to  the  sun.     There  was  u 


4  »». 


'HII 


THE  TlilUKS. 


351 


Htnu'turo  in  the  middle,  which  iVrcinhr^^  thiiikH  wim  u  kind  of  altar,  and  iipoti  it 
imrncd  a  |ifi|K'tnal  lire,  ftil  with  thri'o  logH  hdd  c-iid  to  end,  and  watched  hy  two  oM 
men  H(;t  apart  to  tlie  nacred  ollice. 

Th\iH  the  Natchez,  who  were  woinliippei-H  of  tho  hum  and  took  tlioir  cognomen 
from  the  nanu!  of  tliat  himinary,  kept  itn  Hymhol  perpetually  hnrning.  JJoth 
(liarlevoix  and  Dii  I'ratz  W(!re  eye-\vitneHHcn  of  this  rite.  Tlu?  hereditary  dignity 
of  rnler,  or  ('hi((f  Hnn,  descended  in  the  femalt!  line,  and  the  lawH  of  intermarriage 
were  ho  regnlated  that  the  head  cirujf'H  dcHcendantH  were  ohiiged  to  ally  themiselveH 
with  the  lower  chiHscH  of  the  trihe,  a  nyHtem  hy  which  all  came  to  he  iilcntified  and 
honnd  together  in  their  political  and  rcligionH  ties  and  honors.  The  title  of  Sun  was 
e(inivale'.it  to  that  of  Inca,  or  Kmjx'nir,  and  the  chief  exercised  a  more  ahsolnte 
power  than  appeal's  to  have  l)een  awarded  to  him  in  any  other  nation  north  of  Mex- 
ico. The  chief's  despotic  power  and  the  national  worship  were  kept  up  with  an 
Oriental  display,  an*l  with  an  Oriental  nsc  of  the  language'  of  honor  and  ceremony, 
long  after  the  French  settled  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and,  indeed,  up  to  the  de- 
Htniction  of  the  trihe  in  17:51.  "The  Sun  has  eaten,"  proclaimed  an  ollicial  func- 
tionary daily  hefore  the  Ruling  Ohief  of  the  Sun,  after  his  morning's  repast,  "and 
the  rest  of  the  earth  may  now  eat." 

Charlevoix,  who  visited  the  Natchez  nation  in  17*21  and  inspected  their  temple, 
pronounces  the  descriptions  which  had  hcen  given  hy  prior  writers  of  its  ceremonies 
and  appointments  to  have  heen  greatly  exaggerated.  He  ohserves  that  the  v.orship 
of  the  sun  had  prevaile<l  extensively  among  the  trihes  throughout  the  c(Uintry,  and 
that  the  (dd  heliefs  still  rcmaincnl,  and  says  that  the  ceremonies  of  a  perpetual  (ire, 
kept  up  in  a  particular  huilding,  had  lingered  with  them  to  the  time  of  his  visit,  lie 
specilies  the  Mohilians,  or  ('hoctaw-Chickasaw  trihes,  as  having  taken  their  fires  from 
this  alt«r,  and  states  that  the  greater  part  of  the  nations  of  Jjouisiana'  formerly  had 
their  temples,  us  well  as  the  Natchez.  In  their  external  appearance  the  Natchez 
differed  in  no  wise  from  the  other  Indians  of  Canada  and  Lcniisiana.  The  daily  rites 
he  descrilK's  lus  follows:  "  Every  morning,  iw  soon  as  the  sun  appears,  the  (i rand 
Chief  stands  at  the  door  of  his  cahin,  turns  his  face  towards  the  east,  and  howls 
thrice,  prostrating  himself  to  the  ground  at  the  same  time.  A  calumet  is  arterwarda 
hrought  him,  which  is  never  used  hut  upon  this  occasion;  he  smokes,  and  hlows 
the  smoke  first  towards  the  sun,  and  then  towards  the  other  three  (juarters  of  the 
world.  lie  acknowledges  no  master  hut  the  sun,  from  whom  he  pretends  he  derives 
his  origin."" 

'  Aurct'iilily,  of  course,  to  its  boundiiry  in  1721,  rikI  not  as  nt  present,  when  it  is  contracted  to  n  State  of 
niodoriitc  dinioiiHions.  Tlii.s  distinction  is  ovcrloolted  in  reference  to  tlio  bufTiiio  in  Floridii  by  the  transiiitor 
of  I)e  Sot4)'H  first  letter. 

'  Tliis  ceremony  of  lifling  their  pipes  slowly  towards  tho  sun,  as  if  offering  them  to  bo  smoked,  he  had 
Ijcfore  noticed  at  two  interviews  with  tlio  tribes  he  met  at  the  nioutli  of  the  Dosnioines  or  Moninjrwuna 
Uiver,  a  tributary  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  about  12°  nortli  latitude.  How  perfectly  does  this  agree  with 
the  ceremonies  described,  a-s  before  noted,  by  Maekeii^ie,  aiuong  the  Keni^lciios,  north  of  Lake  Siij>crior,  in 
latitude  r,:,"  N  ! 


h 


M 


*'4, 


352  TIIK  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


CONOARE13S  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

The  most  considerable  streams  in  South  Carolina,  ami  especially  those  which, 
taking  their  rise  in  the  Apijalachiau  Mountains,  traverse  the  State  in  their  way  to  the 
ocean,  receive  their  names  from  the  Indian  tribes  which  were  found  occupying  their 
shores  at  the  advent  of  the  white  man.  The  Catawba,  rising  in  the  mountains  of 
North  Carolina,  on  receiving  the  Wateree  Creek  becomes  the  Wateree  River,  and 
its  valley  was  the  favorite  abode  of  the  Catawba  Indians.  The  Saluda  and  Broad, 
uniting  at  the  town  of  Columbia,  form  the  Congaree,  and  this,  after  its  junction  with 
the  Wateree,  becomes  the  Santee,  which  bears  this  name  till  it  falls  into  the  Atlantic. 
The  Broail  Kiver  was  calhnl  by  the  Catiiwbas  Eswau  Huppeday,  or  Line  River, 
because  it  was  the  established  line  between  them  and  the  Cherokecs.  Of  the  Con- 
garees,  who  gave  their  name  to  the  river  which  is  formed  by  the  conf.uence  of  the 
Saluda  and  Broail,  little  is  historically  known.  The  earliest  European  voyager  who 
travelled  through  the  country  and  hiis  left  behind  him  any  account  of  the  tribes 
occupying  it  Wiis  John  Lawson,  afterwards  Surveyor-General  of  Nortli  Carolina. 
He  left  Charleston  on  Saturday,  December  28,  1700,  in  a  canoe,  and,  threading  the 
bays  and  creeks  of  the  coast,  entered  the  Santee  on  the  Friday  following.  He  soon 
allerwards  encountered  a  party  of  the  Sewee  Indians,  who  have  given  their  name  to 
Sewee  Bay,  near  tlie  mouth  of  that  river,  and  whom  he  represents  as  having  been 
formerly  a  large  nation,  but  at  that  time  much  diniinished  in  numbers  by  intemper- 
ance, by  the  ravages  of  the  smalljwx,  and  by  a  disiister  at  sesi  which  reduced  still 
more  the  remnant  of  this  peoi)le.  Under  the  mistaken  idea  that  England  was  not 
far  from  the  coast,  tliey  fitted  out  a  large  licet  of  canoes  laden  with  skins  and  furs 
tor  tht  purpose  of  traffic,  and  embarked  all  their  able-bodied  men,  leaving  the  old, 
impotent,  and  those  under  age,  at  home.  Mimy  of  them  were  lost  in  a  storm,  and 
tlie  remainder  were  taken  by  an  English  vessel,  whose  ca])tain  sold  them  as  slaves  in 
the  West  India  Lslands.  After  j)!issini';  the  settlement  of  the  French  Huguenots, 
which  he  describes  as  already  a  tiiriving  connnunity,  he  visiteil  the  "Seretees  or 
Santees"  (Zantees),  sonu;  of  whose  customs  he  describes  in  pa.ssing. 

After  travelling  about  seventy-iive  miles,  a  journey  which  occupied  about  five 
days,  Lawson  reached  the  town  of  the  Congarees.  This  he  describes  as  consisting 
of  some  dozen  houses,  thougli  the  tribe  had  straggling  plantJitious  uj)  and  down  the 
country,  lie  found  them  occupying  the  river-b(jttoms,  having  "  curi(uis  dry  marshes 
and  savimuiis"  near.  Tiiey  had  large  stores  of  "  cliinkaj)in-nuts,''  kept  in  large 
baskets  for  use,  and  hickory-nuts,  "  which  tliey  beat  Ijctween  two  great  stones,  then 
sift  them,  and  so  thicken  their  venison-broth  therewith,"  the  small  shells  precipitiiting 
to  the  bottom  of  the  pot,  while  the  kernel,  in  the  form  of  Hour,  mi.ves  with  the 
liijuor.  "  Both  tliese  nuts  made  into  meal  nnike  a  curious  soup."  When  he  arrived 
among  them  he  found  the  W(mien  engaged  in  sonu;  game  wiiich,  though  he  looked 
on  for  two  hours,  he  could  not  understand.     "Their  arithmetic! was  kept  with  a  heap 


of  Indian  grain. 


He  represents  these  Indians  as  kind  and  all'able  to  the  English, 


HS 


>0i 


M'f 


THE  TRIBES. 


353 


the  queen  being  very  kind,  giving  him  wliat  rarities  her  cabin  afforded,  such  as 
"  loblobby,"  made  with  Indian  corn  and  dried  peaches.     The  existence  of  the  peach 
among  them  he  elsewhere  aihhices  as  evidence  of  the  Eastern  origin  of  the  Indian 
tribes.     One  of  the  finest  varieties  of  this  fruit  in  Carolina  is  to-day  commonly 
known  as  the  "  Indian  peach,"  a  variety  not  met  with  at  the  North.     The  Sewee  or 
Carolina  bean,  known  throughout  the  United  States,  bears  the  name  of  the  Sewee 
Indians.     Tlie  red-  or  cow-pea,  one  of  the  most  useful  crops  of  the  South,  Lawson 
partook  of  among  tlie  Indians.     Indian  corn  and  tobacco  we  have  received  from  the 
native  tribes,  just  >;s  we  have  received  various  other  vegetables  which  our  gardens 
yield  from  the  Africans  among  us, — among  the  iutter,  the  egg-plant,  the  okra  or 
gumbo,  and  Guinea  corn.     "  These  Congarees  have  abundance  of  cranes  or  storks  in 
their  savannas.     They  take  them  before  they  can  Hy,  and  breed  them  as  tame  and 
familiar  as  a  dung-hill  fowl.     They  had  a  tame  crane  at  one  of  their  cabins  nearly 
six  feet  in  height,  his  head  being  round,  with  a  shining  natural  crimson  hue,  whicli 
they  all  have."     In  another  place  he  says  of  the  cranes,  "  They  arc  above  five  feet 
high  when  extended.     Their  (juills  are  excellent  for  pens ;  their  flesh  makes  the  best 
broth,  yet  it  is  hard  to  digest.     They  are  easily  bred,  and  are  excellent  in  a  garden 
to  destroy  frogs,  worms,  and  other  vermin."    He  extols  the  beauty  of  the  Congarees: 
"  These  are  a  very  coniely  sort  of  Indians,  there  being  a  strange  difference  in  the 
proportion  and  beauty  of  these  heathen.     The  women  here  are  as  handsome  as  most 
J  have  met  withal,  there  being  several  fine-figured  brunettes  among  them."     Their 
liospitality  is  applauded.     "  When  their  play  was  ended,  the  king  or  Casseta's  wife 
invited  us  into  her  cabin.     (The  men  of  the  tribe  were  absent  on  a  hunting  expedi- 
tion.)    The  Indian   kings   always  entertain  travellers,  either   English  or  Indian, 
taking  it  as  a  great  affront  if  they  pass  by  their  cal)ins  and  take  up  their  quarters  at 
any  other  Indian's  house.     The  queen  set  victuals  before  us,  which  good  compliment 
they  use  generally  iis  .soon  a.s  you  come  under  their  roof."     Again  :  "  The  queen  got 
us  a  ;.!;ood  breakfast  before  we  left  here."     The  following  instance  of  medical  j)ractice 
occurred  as  an  j»ccoinpaniment :  "She  had  a  young  cliiM  which  was  much  atllicted 
with  'he  colic,  for  which  distemper  she  infused  a  root  in  water,  which  was  held  in  a 
gourd  ;  this  she  took  into  her  mouth  and  spurtijd  it  into  the  infant's,  which  gave  it 
ciise."     "After  we   had   eaten,  we   set   out  witli  our  new  guide    for  the  Wateree 
Indians." 

'i'lK' Congarcis  are  represented  as  a  people  inconsiderable  in  nundter.  "These 
Indians  are  a  small  people,  having  lost  much  of  their  former  numbers  by  intestine 
liroiN,  but  most  by  the  su'.alli)ox,  whicli  hath  often  visited  them,  sweeping  away 
whole  towns,  occasioned  by  the  immoderate  government  [improper  treatment]  of 
tiiemselves  in  their  sii'kness.  Nor  do  I  know  any  savages  that  have  traded  with  the 
1  jiglish  but  what  have  been  great  losers  by  this  distemper."  Putting  thi;  "  Wateree 
and  Chickaree  Indians"  in  comparison,  lie  says,  "This  nation  is  more  populous 
than  the  Congarees  and  their  neighbors,'  yel  understand  not  one  anotiier's  s2)eech." 


m 


^'' (I 


III'  riMilicd  tluiii  at  a  ili.sl:iii(.'u  of  thirty  riiilit  iiiilr.s. 


B'f    I 


354 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


But  the  Watereea  on  their  part  were  dosjjised  by  the  Waxhaws  as  a  "poor  sort 
of  Indians,''  and  among  these  last  they  found  more  style  and  a  higher  manner  of 
living. 

The  next  notice  we  find  of  the  Congarces  is  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  later.  In 
1715,  to  the  great  vexation  of  the  inhabitants  of  Carolina,  the  Congarees,  the  Catsiw- 
biis,  nnd  the  Cherokees  united  witli  the  Yamassees  in  a  war  of  extermination  against 
the  cc'lonLsts.  The  conspiracy  embraced  every  tribe  from  Florida  to  the  Cape  Fear. 
The  southern  division  of  the  Indian  force  consisted  of  about  six  thousand  bowmen ; 
the  northern,  among  whom  were  the  Congarces,  of  between  six  hundred  and  one 
thousand.  The  massacre  of  Pocatnligo  was  i)crpetrated  by  the  southern  division ; 
the  church  of  stone  Wiis  burnt,  and  all  the  inhabitants  south  of  Charleston  either 
lied  for  refuge  to  that  city,  or  were  miserably  slain  by  the  cruel  enemy,  such  as  had 
no  friends  among  the  Indians  being  subjected  to  the  fiercest  tortures.  The  northern 
division,  among  whom  were  the  Congarees,  advanced  beyond  Goose  Creek  on  tlie 
way  to  Charleston,  and  murdered  the  family  of  John  Ilearne.  During  this  expedi- 
tion, Capt'iin  Thom-is  Barker,  who  opposctl  them  with  a  company  of  about  ninety 
mounted  militia,  fell  into  an  ambuscade,  and,  with  several  of  his  men,  was  slain ; 
and  in  the  Goose  Creek  settlement,  seventy  white  men  and  forty  negroes,  who  had 
hastily  entrenched  themselves,  rashly  agreeing  to  terms  of  peace,  admitted  the  Indians 
within  their  breastwork,  and  were  by  them  inhumanly  butchered.  After  the 
Yamassee  war  was  brought  to  a  close  by  Governor  Craven,  the  Congarees  seem  to 
have  conlin-jd  themselves  to  their  ancient  haunts.  In  1722,  some  eight  years  after,  a 
fort  or  garrison  was  in  existence  among  them  to  protect  the  settlements  below  from 
hostile  incursion.  In  1730-;}8,  Thomas  Brown  had  taken  un  his  abode  near  this 
fort  as  an  Indian  trader.  He  '>ud,  perha|)s,  been  preceded  b^  others  in  the  capacity 
of  travelling  mercliant.s.  At  what  time  the  Congarees  disappeared  from  their  ancient 
haunts  is  not  accurately  known.  Cirants  were  made  in  Amelia  township,  laid  out  on 
ilie  southern  side  of  the  Congaree,  as  early  as  17J55,  and  in  the  townsliip  of  Saxe 
(Jotha,  north  of  Amelia,  in  171^7.  In  17'{o,  Thomas  Brown,  Indian  trader  at  Con- 
garee, Old  Fort,  purchased  of  the  Waterees  the  lands  l)etween  the  Santee  (Congaree) 
and  Wateree  as  far  up  as  the  Catawba  Fording-Piace.  About  this  time,  then,  we 
may  siip[)0se  they  began  to  change!  tlieir  residence.  What  became  of  them  history 
does  iK)t  inform  us,  but  they  probably  withdrew  to  the  northwestern  j)art  of  the  State, 
and  were  merged  in  the  great  body  ot  the  Cherokees. 


THE  TUIUKS  OF  TIIK  PACIFIC  SWl'K. 

The  Indians  of  the  Pacific  sh)pe  are  divided  into  numerous  smuil  tribes,  and  are 
genemliy  lower  in  the  scale  of  humanity  than  tiiose  of  the  interior.  In  Northern 
California,  ( Jrcgon,  and  Washington  Territory  they  sulisisted  ehielly  upon  the  salmon 
l)efore  government  undertook  their  support.  Tiio.  e  on  tiie  California  coast  wv  re 
peaceable  and  inclined  to  lie  i'liendly  to  tlir  whites  wiien  settlements  were  first  estab- 
lished among  tlicni.      Along   the    Klamath   and   its  triliutaries,  as  well   as  on  the 


1 


poor  sort 
anner  of 

ater.     In 
le  Catsiw- 
n  against 
ipe  Fear, 
bowmen ; 
and  ono 
division  ; 
on  eitluT 
cli  as  had 
northern 
k  on  tlie 
is  expcdi- 
ut  ninety 
vas  shiin ; 
who  had 
,c  Indians 
A.t'ter   the 
3  seem  to 
irs  after,  a 
elow  from 
near  this 
e  capacity 
lir  ancient 
iiid  ont  on 
p  of  Saxc 
IT  at  Con- 
Congarec) 
!,  then,  we 
(m  history 
the  State, 


'S,  and  arc 
Northern 
Jie  sahnon 
coast  were 
(irst  estah- 
as  on  the 


*>ii 


prwii' 


•  ^f.^"™-— fK"*-^'  • 


Mill   72 


ipr^  ^- 


^    \.5;:?:i-.'- •  ^.s  ,,„ 


VWa/- 


IlI.   72 


I 


H 


i-it<-  73 


m 


\lKlt 


TUK  TRIBES. 


355 


Trinity,  Mad  River,  Eel  River,  and  lining  the  entire  coast  from  Point  St.  George  to 
below  Mendocino,  they  were  very  numerous. 

A  marked  distinction  existed  between  the  Indians  living  on  the  coast  and  those 
inhabiting  the  mountains,  the  former  being  indolent  and  improvident,  while  the  latter 
possessed  more  of  the  bravery,  cunning,  and  superstition  peculiar  to  the  savages  of 
the  Northwest.  They  associated  but  little  with  those  on  the  coast,  and  seldom  inter- 
married, seeming  to  consider  themselves  a  superior  class.  They  killed  an  abundance 
of  game  with  their  bows  and  arrows,  and  caught  immense  quantities  of  sjilmon, 
which  they  smoked  or  dried  for  winter  use.  In  respect  of  food,  deerskin  clothing, 
and  .'omfortable  houses  they  were  well  provided.  Those  Indians  living  on  the  coast, 
at  the  mouths  of  the  rivers,  and  around  Humboldt  Bay,  subsisted  principally  upon 
mussels  and  fish,  or  an  occasional  stranded  whale,  gathering  also  roots,  seeds,  and 
b3rries.  They  had  comparatively  comfortable  houses,  and  lazily  basked  in  the  sun 
or  indulged  in  the  favorite  pastime  of  gambling,  while  the  squaws  did  all  the 
drudgery. 

The  Indians  living  on  the  banks  of  a  river,  though  composed  of  different  bands 
having  neither  ethnic  nor  tribal  affinity,  generally  take  the  name  of  the  stream.  It 
is  a  remarkable  fact  that  a  separate  and  distinct  language  is  spoken  by  the  Indians 
on  these  ditlerent  rivers,  or  on  nearly  all  of  them.  Those  on  the  Klamath  speak  a 
different  language  from  those  on  the  Trinity,  one  of  its  tributaries.  The  fact  of  this 
entire  want  of  unity,  or  of  a  recognized  head,  rendered  it  exceedingly  difficult  to 
treat  with  these  Indians,  or  successfully  to  colonize  them  on  reservations.  When 
placed  together  they  did  not  harmonize,  retaining  their  petty  divisions  and  distrust 
of  one  another.  Though  naturally  indolent  and  degraded,  they  are  not  devoid  of  a 
certain  kind  of  intelligence.  They  are  superstitious  in  the  extreme,  seeming  to 
derive  more  of  the  little  moral  restraint  they  exhibit  from  this  source  than  from  any 
other. 

CALIFOKNIA    TRIUICS. 

Among  the  numerous  families  or  stocks  of  Indians  found  in  California  are  the 
Shoshones,  rejn-esented  by  the  Payute  (Pi-Ut<')  and  Kanonya  (Spanish,  Coahuila), 
the  latter  of  whom  prevail  from  the  Cabezon  Mountains  and  San  Bernardino  Valley 
to  the  Pacific  coast ;  the  Yumas,  of  whom  the  Iiigueno  and  Comoyei  are  around  San 
Diego,  along  the  coast,  on  New  River,  etc. ;  Mutsun,  designating  a  family  of  dialects 
extending  from  the  environs  of  San  Juan  Bautista,  California,  northwest  to  the  Buy 
of  San  Francisco  and  the  Straits  of  Carquinez,  reaching  probably  to  the  San  Joaquin 
River  on  the  east,  and  identical  with  the  language  called  Runsien ;  Yoyeut,  a  tribe 
in  the  Kern  and  Tulare  biusins,  and  on  the  middle  course  of  the  San  Joaquin  River, 
consolidated  in  1800  into  one  coherent  body  by  their  chief  Piuscual ;  Meewoc,  the 
largest  tribe  in  population  and  extent,  reaching  from  the  snow-line  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  to  the  Sati  Joaquin  River,  and  from  the  Cosunnies  to  the  Fresno ;  Meidoo,  a 
merry,  dance-loving  race,  formerly  extending  from  the  S;u  ramento  River  to  the  snow- 
line, and  from  Big  Chico  Creek  to  Bear  River;  Wintoon,  a  timid,  superstitious,  and 


m 


1 


% 


1  i 


ii^ 


w 


35G 


rill']  INDIAN  TRIIiES  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


grossly  sensuiil  race,  settled  on  both  sides  of  Upper  Sacramento  and  Upper  Trinity 
Rivers,  found  also  on  the  lower  course  of  Pitt  River ;  the  Yukiis,  a  revengeful  people, 
conspicuous  by  very  large  heads  placed  on  smallish  bodies :  they  originally  dwelt  in 
Round  Valley,  cast  of  Upper  Eel  River ;  Pomo,  a  populous,  unoffending  race,  settled 
along  the  coiut,  on  Clear  Lake,  and  on  the  heads  of  Eel  and  Russian  Rivers,  a 
]iortion  of  whom  are  now  on  tiie  Round  Valley  Reservation ;  Eurok,  a  tribe  on  the 
Klamath  River,  from  its  mouth  up  to  the  Great  Bend,  at  the  influx  of  the  Trinity 
River ;  Cahrok,  a  tribe  extending  along  Klamath  River  from  Bluff'  Creek  to  Indian 
Creek,  a  distance  of  eighty  miles ;  Shasta,  a  tribe  which,  becoming  involved  in  the 
Rogue  River  war,  was  at  ita  close  removed  from  its  old  homo  in  the  Shaata  and 
Scott  Valleys,  and  is  now  on  the  Siletz  and  Grande  Ronde  Reserves  in  Oregon ; 
the  Pitt  River,  a  poor  and  abject-looking  race  on  Upper  Pitt  River  and  its  side-creeks ; 
Klamath,  inhabiting  the  table-land  between  the  Sacramento  and  California  River 
basin,  the  central  part  of  which  now  forms  their  reservation ;  and  the  Tinn6  family, 
of  which  are  the  Hoopa,  a  populous,  warlike,  and  compact  tribe  on  the  Trinity, 
wlio  formerly  kept  the  surrounding  tribes  in  submission ;  the  Rogue  River,  who 
speak  a  language  replete  with  guttural  and  croaking  sounds;  and  the  Umpquas,  who 
live  in  and  around  Alsea,  a  sub-agency  on  the  sea-coast. 

The  chief  reliance  of  the  California  Indians,  summer  and  winter,  is  on  seeds. 
The  females  construct,  with  great  ingenuity,  baskets  of  willow  cr  osier  for  gathering 
and  cleaning  these  seeds  and  for  transporting  them  to  their  lodges. 

MISSION    INDIANS. 

The  Mission  Indians  of  California  are  composed  of  the  following  tribes,  viz., 
Seranos,  Diguenos,  San  Luis  Rey,  Coahuilas,  and  Owongos.  They  number  about 
three  thousand,  and  their  settlements  are  scattered  over  portions  of  San  Bernardino 
and  San  Diego  Counties,  and  chiefly  iti  the  mountain  and  desert  districts  embraced 
in  a  range  hundreds  of  miles  in  extent. 

The  first  of  the  Jesuit  missions,  from  which  they  received  their  name,  was  estab- 
lished at  San  Diego  in  17G9.  In  1804  there  were  nine  missions  at  different  ])oints 
between  San  Diego  and  San  Francisco.  The  emissaries  of  the  priests  gradually 
brought  the  natives  under  control,  and  gathered  them  in  settlements  around  the 
missions,  instructing  them  in  agriculture  and  civilized  life.  In  182(5  there  were 
twenty-one  missions  and  a  population  of  twenty-five  thousand,  having  large  {wsscs- 
sions  in  cattle  and  grain.  The  tide  of  gold  emigration  and  trade,  in  1849,  dispos- 
sessed them  of  their  lands,  made  them  homeless  wanderers,  and  introduced  a  course 
of  extermination,  tlieir  condition  becoming  yearly  more  deplorable.  As  a  class  tlic 
Mission  Indians  arc  industricms,  sustaining  themselves  by  cultivating  their  little 
fields,  or  by  ]al)()ring  for  ranchmen  in  their  vicinity.  During  the  sheep-slieariiig 
season  their  services  are  greatly  in  demand,  a.s  they  are  especially  skilled  in  this  kind 
of  labor. 

Besides  the  ^fission,  Iloopa  Valley,  R(nin(l  Viillcy,  and  Tule  River  Agencies, 


\. 


m.-/. 


'!• 


THE   TRIBES. 


357 


where  nearly  all  wear  citizens'  dress,  there  are  the  Klamuths  and  other  Indians,  to 
the  number  of  six  thousand,  scatteroa  through  different  counties  in  the  State,  and 
upon  whom  civilization  has  as  yet  exerted  no  beneficial  influence.  Of  the  Iloopa 
Valley  Reservation,  containing  over  one  hundred  thousand  acres,  nearly  all  is  still 
in  the  possession  of  the  settlers,  who  have  never  been  paid  for  their  improvements. 
Only  twelve  hundred  acres  of  this  land  are  cultivated  by  the  Indians,  none  of  whom 
subsist  by  the  chase,  all  the  able-bodied  men  being  required  to  work.  The  practice 
of  seeking  their  "  medicine-men"  in  ca.se  of  sickn^s  ir>  gradually  dying  out.  Of  the 
Tule  River  Reservation,  in  Tulare  County,  containing  forty-eight  thousand  five 
liundred  and  fifty-one  acres,  not  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  can  be  utilized  for 
farming  purposes.  It  is  a  rough,  mountainous  district,  too  rugged  and  rocky  even 
for  grazing.  Only  one  hundred  and  sixty  of  the  six  hundred  and  ten  Tule  and 
Ttyon  Indians,  for  whom  it  was  designed,  can  live  on  it,  the  remainder  residing  in 
Tulare  and  adjoining  counties.  All  these  Indians  wear  citizens'  dress,  the  women  gen- 
erally making  their  own  clothing ;  and  they  are  gradually  improving  their  condition. 
There  is  one  school  in  operation  at  the  Tule  River  farm,  with  an  attendance  of 
thirty-seven  scholars. 

The  Indians  belonging  to  the  Round  Valley  Reservation  are  the  Konkau,  Little 
Lake,  Pitt  River,  Potter  Valley,  Redwood,  Wailakki,  and  Yuki  tribes.  The  reser- 
vation contains  one  hundred  and  two  thousand  one  hundre<l  and  eighteen  acres  of 
very  fertile  land  in  Mendocino  County.  More  than  five  thousand  Indians  fall  under 
the  care  of  this  agency.  None  of  these  Indians  sulwist  by  the  chase,  more  produce 
being  raised  from  the  land  than  is  needed  for  their  subsistence,  and  the  surplus  pro- 
ceeds are  used  for  the  purchase  of  stock  and  improvements.  They  have  a  school 
which  is  well  attended,  and  expect  soon  to  have  a  Iwarding-  and  manual-labor  school 
in  operation.  These  Indians  are  uniformly  quiet  and  peaceable,  notwithstanding 
they  are  nmch  disturl>ed  by  white  trespassers. 

The  disbandment  of  the  Jesuit  missions  of  California,  and  the  disjiersion  of  the 
population  which  had  been  thus  brought  under  instruction,  have  rendered  it  im- 
piticticable  to  distinguish  the  various  grades  of  the  aboriginal  population.  When 
the  Americans  succeedeil  to  the  occupancy  of  California,  the  sites  and  buildings 
of  these  missions  existed  all  along  the  coiist  from  San  Diego  to  San  Francisco ;  but 
they  appeared  to  have  been  long  abjindoned  as  centres  of  teaching  the  natives. 
Lieutenant  A.  W.  Whipple,  U.S.A.,  who  passed  through  the  bands  on  the  line  of 
survey  between  San  Diego  and  the  coiust  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Gila,  found  the 
Diguenos.  lie  laid  stre^ss  on  the  fact  of  the  tribe's  having  boon  formerly  organized 
iu  a  Spanish  mission ;  and  tlioy  still  spoke  many  Sj)anish  words,  anil  gave  some  evi- 
dence of  iujproved  manners,  though  without  nmch  industrial  energy  or  moral  char- 
acter. But  before  reaching  the  Colorado  he  entered  the  territories  of  the  Cushans 
or  Yumas,  who  are  the  merest  barbarians.  "  Warriors  dye  their  faces  jot-bhuk, 
with  a  strip  of  red  from  the  forehead  down  the  nose  and  acrass  the  cliin.  Women 
and  young  men  usually  paint  with  red,  and  ornament  their  chins  with  dots  or  stripes 
of  blue  or  black ;  around  their  eyes  are  circles  of  black."    Tiiere  wore  also  encoun- 


i    ) 


i 


t 


m 


ill 


1 1, 


!■ 


3o8 


Tilt:  ISDIAN   Tliini:S   up  the   UNITtW  STATES. 


tcred  on  this  part  of  the  route  other  hands,  and  he  pronounces  those  living  near  the 
mouth  of  the  (lila  "a  desperate  set  of  raseals." 

In  tiie  manners  and  customs  of  tlio  trihes  living  in  the  circle  of  country  around 
San  Diego  we  perceive  nothing  that  lit\s  them  above  the  darkest  superstitious  of  the 
most  degraded  luinter-tribea  of  other  latitudes.  "  In  their  religious  ceremonial 
dances,"  says  an  observer  on  the  spot,  "  they  differ  much.  AVhile  in  some  tribes  all 
unite  to  celebrate  them,  in  others  men  alone  are  allowed  to  dance,  while  the  women 
assist  in  singing."  Of  their  dances  the  most  celebrated  are  the  dance  of  the  liawk- 
i'eiist,  tl»e  dance  of  peace  and  plenty,  the  dance  of  victory,  the  dance  of  puberty,  and 
the  dance  of  deprecation.  These  are  uU  considered  religious,  and  apart  from  dances 
of  mere  amusement. 

The  dance  of  dei)recation  is  performed  when  any  person  of  the  tribe  fulls  sick 
unaccountably.  All  believe  such  illness  to  be  the  work  of  witches,  or  rather  of 
wizards ;  for  among  them  males  are  more  liable  than  females  to  be  accused  of  occult 
practices.  On  occasion  of  the  dance  in  question  all  the  mon'bci-s  of  the  tribe  assem- 
ble, bringing  with  them  each  an  offering  of  the  products  of  their  gathering.  The 
whole  is  deposited  in  u  basket,  and  the  dance  begins.  Significant  words  are  sung  by 
the  women,  tiie  children,  and  the  old,  while  generally  the  warriors  alone  dance,  to  time 
kept  in  their  ordinary  way,  by  arrows  used  lus  cjistanets.  This  is  kept  up  till  a  lute 
hour,  when  the  priest  rises  and  presents  ^he  offering,  waving  it  high  from  right  to 
left,  and  shouting  at  each  wave,  the  tribe  responding  by  a  deep  groan.  During  this 
jnirt  of  the  ceremony  no  other  noise  is  heard,  but  all  is  deep  and  respectful  attention. 
At  last  the  dunce  breaks  uj),  uiul  uU  disperse.  The  offering  is  prepured  und  cooked 
on  the  following  duy,  und  in  the  night  the  inefficient  old  men  of  the  tribe  alone  meet 
und  eat  it.  Here  the  ceremony  ends,  and  they  believe  that  the  evil  genius  has  been 
appeased. 

On  the  first  proof  of  womanhood  in  the  maiden  a  great  ceremonial  feast  comes 
off".  The  girl  is  covered  up  in  the  earth,  and  the  ground  beaten,  so  that  a  profuse 
sweut  succeeds,  und  this  is  kept  up  for  twenty-four  hours.  During  this  intervul  she 
is  withdruwn  and  washed  three  or  four  times,  and  re-embedded.  Dancing  is  kept  up 
the  whole  time  by  the  women,  and  the  ceremony  ends  by  uU  joining  in  a  big  feast 
given  by  the  parents  of  the  girl. 

One  of  their  most  remarkable  superstitions  is  shown  in  the  fact  of  their  not 
eating  tlie  llesh  of  large  game.  Tliis  arises  from  their  belief  that  into  the  bodies  of 
all  large  animals  the  souls  of  certain  generations,  long  since  past,  have  entered.  It  is 
not  the  metempsyf;hosis  of  Pythagonis,  but  one  of  their  own,  since  they  always  say 
it  is  u  i)eople  long  since  jMissed  away  whose  souls  have  been  thus  trunsluted.  It  is 
j)robable  that  the  superstition  once  extended  to  all  large  animals;  but  the  Mission 
Indians  being  fed  entirely  on  beef,  and  their  robberies  consisting  mostly  of  herds 
of  horses,  the  superstition  ha.s  been  rcunoved  from  the  domestic  animals,  except  the 
hog.  This  unimul  was  kept  in  the  Missions  for  its  lurd,  and  was  difficult  to  steal  in 
(juuntity :  hence  the  continued  prohibition  of  its  flesh  among  them.  These  prohi- 
bitions are  set  aside  in  ease  of  the  old  and  inefficient  men  of  the  tribes,  who  are 


m^  ' 


THE   TRIBES. 


359 


allowed  to  cat  nnytliiiig  ami  cvcryfiiing  that  comes  in  their  way.  A  white  man  at 
firfit  finds  it  diflicidt  to  believe  in  their  good  faith  in  this  regard,  but  a  couple  of 
proofs  may  bo  adduced.  On  one  occasion  u  half-Indian  wished  to  amuse  him- 
self at  the  expense  of  the  devout.  He  prepared  a  dish  of  bear-meat  for  them,  and 
said  it  was  beef,  and  all  ate  heartily  of  it.  When  the  trick  was  made  known  to 
them,  they  were  seized  with  retchings,  which  ended  only  with  the  removal  of  the 
cause.  A  term  of  reproach  from  a  wild  tribe  to  those  more  tamed  is,  "  They  eat 
venison !" 

On  an  eclipse  all  is  consternation.  The  people  congregate  and  sing,— to  appease 
the  evil  spirits,  as  some  say,  to  frighten  them,  according  to  others.  They  believe  that 
the  devils  are  eating  up  the  sun  or  the  moon,  and  they  do  not  cease  their  singing 
until  the  eclipsed  luminary  comes  forth  in  it«  wonted  splendor. 

The  Mission  Indians  have  suffered  great  losses  from  epidemic  diseases  since  their 
first  intercourse  with  the  whites,  and  these  diseases  have  exterminated  whole  tribes. 

The  introduction  of  the  smallpox  they  attribute  to  the  Hudson  Bay  Comj)any : 
the  disease  wiis  very  fat^U  to  them  in  the  year  1839.  The  fever  and  ague,  which  also 
proves  fatal  to  many  every  year,  they  say  was  never  known  among  them  until  the 
year  1830,  when  an  American  captain  by  the  name  of  Dominis  arrived  at  Astoria  in 
a  vessel  from  the  Sandwich  Islands.  These,  and  sundry  other  bodily  complaints  of 
modern  date  to  which  they  are  subject,  they  attribute  altogether  to  the  whites,  whom 
they  seem  to  look  upon  as  having  the  power  to  communicate  these  diseases  to  them. 
Hence  one  cause  of  their  avowed  hostility  to  the  whites. 


•  T 


TOTONIC  TRIBES   OF  SOUTHEUN   OREGON,  ifuio. 


Nfttnofl  of  Banda. 

« 

i 

y. 

1 

1 

S 

a 
la 

I 

1 
% 

Chli'fi. 

Location. 

18 
30 

CO 
i) 
24 
3U 
10 
18 
117 
«!) 

r)3 

32 

20 
40 
45 

10 

18 
22 

11 

17 
23 

59 

85 

133 

50 

27 

102 

120 

51 

00 

171) 

120 

153 

124 

1 
1 

3 

Clcmtna  (John) 

ChcUiikds 

Unhultcuh 

Ciiqiiilln  River. 

Cociiiillc  Kni'k.'i. 

Florcs  Creek. 

Elk  River. 

Port  Orfnnl. 

Yiiquft  I'rcek. 

Rojjuii  River. 

Pistol  River. 

Whale's  Head. 

Chct  Ko. 

Six  niile»  iibovo  the  month  of  Rop;no  River. 

Ahove  the  bif;  bend  of  Rojjiie  River. 

Fourteen  miles  above  mouth  of  Rogue  River. 

(!li(»kr«l('tan 

(jtiuhtoniiih 

C(>.<>iilht'ntnti 

YllqUrtfllO 

» 
41 

4r> 
ir, 

20 
18 
47 

1)1 

58 

6 
18 
24 
11 
12 
22 
22 
23 
17 

3 
1!) 
12 

0 
10 
1!) 
12 
10 
17 

1 
1 

2 

1 
1 

1 
1 
1 
1 

C'hHtullinkt'iili... 

Ahohc.«S('e 

C'Hlwnwt'Alt 

Enotiis 

Ni'lyotiihiipsku.. 
Tohushiiqiu'us... 
THiiiiiincti-sti .... 

Yarhiuiist'o 

Tiilliiiltus 

YhIi  Hlmlt'8 

t'lii't';i'«»cnt«n 

WliistKHBtin 

Sisti('ii(i>4tu 

Miii|iic'lncit>-ii 

Total 

1290 



On  tlu'  settlement  of  Oregon,  the  ino.st  considerable  of  the  Indian  tribes  spread 
over  that  portion  of  the  country  were  tliose  stretching  north  of  Klamath  River,  of 
California,  and  the  northorii  boundiiry-line  of  that  State,  up  the  Pacific  coa.st.   They 


1-   ■ 

p 

T 

3G0 


THE  INDIAN   TlilliKS   OF   rill':   UNITED  STATES. 


coiiHiHtod  of  tliirtooii  Imnds,  bearing  soparuto  iiainoH,  the  mo8t  coiiHidcrahIc  and  j)roin- 
inciit  of  wliidi  woro  tlie  four  bandn  clusU'ring  about  tlio  coullucuw  of  the  rivor, 
whic'li,  from  tbeir  bad  faith  in  trade,  had  been  called  by  the  early  Freueh  traders 
Cotiiiille  (or  Kogue)  liiver.  These  four  bands  bore  the  naiiies  Nasouia,  Chokreletaii, 
Yah  yiiutes,  anil  Tototens,  and,  as  the  whole  group  of  these  sea-eoast  tribes  H[>eak 
dialeet.s  of  tlie  same  language,  they  imiy  be  grouped  together  under  the  name  of 
Totonie.  About  the  year  IHaO  they  were  united  in  u  league  for  defensive  purposes, 
at  the  head  of  whieli  was  a  ehief  of  some  note,  called  dial  Nah,  and  the  combina- 
tion of  tril)es,  it  is  allirmed,  bore  the  name  of  Tototen. 

The  princii)al  wars  in  this  region  liave  been  with  these  Tototcns,  whose  numbers 
have  raj)idly  decliued,  partly  owing  to  internal  discords,  and  partly  through  lios- 
tilities  with  the  settlers.  The  names  and  numbers  of  the  bands,  with  their  principal 
chiefs)  anil  residences,  are  embraced  in  the  above  table. 


•'1 


^wP» 


ORKOON   TKinES. 

The  five  agencies  in  Oregon  contain  a  population  of  about  five  thousand  Indians. 
Besides  these  there  are  some  eight  hundred  roving  on  the  Columbia  liiver,  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Coast  Range.  Tiiose  ;>t  the  Grande  Ilonde  Agency  were  placed 
here  in  185(>,  and  are  remnants  of  the  jiumerous  and  once  powerful  tribes  wliich 
formerly  occupied  the  Willamette  and  Koguc  liiver  Valleys.  With  the  extinc- 
tion of  tribal  relations  among  them,  and  the  removal  of  the  different  families  to 
the  lands  allotted  them  in  severalty  in  1877,  the  bitterness  of  feeling  and  jealousies 
once  existing  among  them  have  been  removed,  and  they  are,  u.s  a  rule,  industriously 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  with  creditable  progress.  All  now  live  in  houses, 
wear  civili/ed  costume,  and  have  adopted  many  of  the  habits  of  the  whites.  The 
great  majority  are  earning  their  own  support  by  farming  and  stock-raising.  The 
Klamath  llescrvation  contains  one  million  and  fifty-six  thousand  acres,  in  the  ex- 
treme southern  j)ortion  of  the  State.  Tliough  not  well  adapted  to  agriculture,  it 
it*  good  grazing  country.  No  more  industrious  or  cnterjjrising  tribe  can  be  found 
thy.:  the  Klainaths.  Had  they  an  agricultural  country,  they  would  soon  be  self- 
supporting.  They  have  a  population  of  one  t'unisand.  The  Modoc  tribe  were 
joint  occupants  of  this  agency  with  the  Kfamaihs,  but  the  overbearing  (lis])ositioii 
of  the  latter  forced  a  jwrtion  of  them  to  leav,  and  brought  on  the  JNIodoc  war  of 
1872-7o.  Those  who  took  no  part  in  the  war  are  at  Yamax  Station,  on  the  Klamath 
lleservation,  under  chief  Schonschin,  brother  of  the  man  who  Wiis  executed  with 
Caj)tain  Jack. 

The  Silet/.  Reservation  borders  on  the  I'acillc  Ocean,  and  contains  two  hundred 
and  forty-six  thousand  acres,  of  which  only  twenty-three  thousand,  on  or  near  the 
Siletz  River,  are  tillal)le.  These  Indians,  numbering  about  eleven  hundred,  are  the 
remnants  of  fifteen  dilferent  tribes,  formerly  scattered  along  the  coast  in  small  vil- 
lages, each  governed  by  its  own  chief,  and  generally  hostile  to  the  others,  having 
nothing  in  common  with  them  but  haired  of  tlii'  whites.     These  tribes  were  placed 


mJ  ■' 


■  '    ■<■■ 


THE    TRinES. 


361 


5j',' 


here  nt  the  concluHlon  of  what  w  known  iw  the  "  Roj^uo  Rivor  war,"  iti  1855,  in 
wliich  they  won;  tho  priiicipiil  iictors,  mid  Hcpiiriite  trciitii'H  luivt!  hct'ii  niuilo  with 
them.  Sonic  of  thusc  trcaticH  wens  in  pint  confirnuul  iiml  coinpliisd  with  hy  tho 
United  StutcH,  bnt  nuwt  of  them  wore  wliolly  disregarded,  and  for  Bixtcen  years  tlio 
Indians  were  kept  as  prixonerH,  and  HnhsiHted  upon  a  scanty  huiu  annually  doled  out 
by  CongrcHH.  The  earnest  efforts  ntcently  made  for  their  improvement  have  been 
very  sueecssful.  They  now  have  a  local  govijrnnu'iit,  modelled  after  that  of  Oregon. 
Many  already  have  their  farms  well  fenced  and  stocked,  with  good  comfortable 
dwellings  and  out-houses  erected  thereon.  IJcsides  a  day-school,  they  have  a  board- 
ing-school recently  established. 

About  one-fourth  of  the  Umatilla  Reservation,  in  Northeastern  Oregon,  containing 
three  hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  live  hundred  and  fifty-one  acres,  is  moun- 
tainous and  covered  with  tiinbi'r.  The  remainder  is  well  adapted  to  agriculture  and 
grazing.  The  Indians  are  of  the  Walla- Walla,  Cayuse,  and  Umatilla  tribes,  and 
number  one  thousand.  Nearly  all  are  self-supporting,  a  small  number  subsisting  by 
root-gathering,  hunting,  fishing,  etc.  There  is  a  steady  improvement  in  this  resjKJCt, 
and  the  Indians  are  slowly  adopting  civilized  customs.  Their  revenue  is  mainly 
derived  from  stock-raising.  They  own  about  twenty-six  thousand  head,  mostly 
horses.  They  arc  the  wealthiest  of  the  tribes  on  the  Pacific  slope.  Their  children 
show  great  aptitude  for  learning. 

Eight  miles  south  of  the  Warm  Springs  River  is  the  agency  that  derives  its 
name  from  the  hot  springs  in  its  vicinity,  whose  waters  passess  valuable  medicinal 
(pialities.  Tho  Indians  of  this  agency  are  widely  and  favorably  known.  They  con- 
sist of  five  distinct  tribes, — Wascoes,  Warm  Springs,  Tenninoes,  John  Days,  and 
I'i-Utes,  five  liundred  and  fifty-eight  in  all.  The  Pi-Utes  were  brought  here  in 
October,  1871),  from  Vancouver  Rarracks,  where  they  had  been  held  prisoners  of 
war.  Nearly  all  these  Indians  wear  citizens'  dress,  and  all,  except  the  Pi-Utes,  are 
self-sustaining.  They  are  making  constant  progress ;  they  have  a  boarding-  and 
day-school  with  a  large  attendance,  and  have  greatly  improved  in  morals,  polygamy, 
gambling,  and  drunkenness  being  far  less  common  among  them  than  formerly. 


iw. 


i.''*i 


TnilJES   OP    WASHINGTON    TERRITOIIY. 

There  are  seven  agencies  in  Wa.shington  Territory, — Colville,  Neah  Bay,  Nis- 
qually,  (iuinaielt,  S'Kokomish,  Tiilalip,  and  Yakima, — in  which  citizens'  dress  is 
worn  by  nearly  all  the  Indians.  Including  the  Pi-Utes  and  the  Bannocks,  who  left 
liie  Malheur  Agency  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Bannock  war  in  1878,  the  population  of 
the  Yakima  Reservation,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Territory,  containing  seven 
liundred  and  eighty-three  thousand  three  liundred  and  sixty  acres,  is  thirty-nine 
hundred.  Remote  from  contact  with  the  whites,  it  is  the  model  agency  of  the 
Pacific  slope.  These  Indians  are  extensively  engaged  in  agriculture  and  stock- 
raising,  and  own  twelve  thousand  horses.  They  manifest  an  increasing  desire  to 
learn  and  practise  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  to  accumulate  property,  to  increase  the 

4(i 


;5(>2 


Tin:  ISDIAN  TlilliES   OF   THE   UNITED  STATES:. 


iirciv  of  ciiltiviitfd  liind,  iiiul  to  acquire  comfortable  liomea  and  otlier  adjuncts  of 
civilization.  Tlicy  have  erected  a  cimrcli  capable  of  seating  seven  hundred  people, 
and  have  two  schools  in  successful  operation,  the  Manual-Labor  School  having  proved 
of  incalculable  benefit  to  them.  The  Neah  Bay  Indians  live  almost  entirely  by 
iishing  and  seal-hunting,  and  are  not  inclined  to  cultivate  the  ground.  They  have 
an  iuvlustrial  boanling-school,  and  are  gradually  renouncing  their  old  habita.  Their 
reserve,  in  the  extreme  northwest  point  of  the  Territory,  is  mostly  rough  and  moun- 
hiinous,  and  unfit  for  cultivation.  The  Nis(jually  Agency  embraces  the  Puyallup, 
Nistjually,  Stpiaxin,  and  Ciichalis  Reservations,  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the 
Territory,  and  seven  bands  not  on  reservations,  numbering  in  all  about  iitlw'u  iiun- 
dred.  The  Nisipiallies  and  I'uyallups  have  churclu^,  schools,  and  other  evidences 
of  progress  and  improvenu'nt.  The  8quaxins  and  Chehalis  are  in  a  non-progressive 
or  even  declining  condition. 

At  the  (^uinaielt  Agency  the  agent  reports  that  in  1880  he  could  perceive  a 
marked  change  for  the  better  in  conforming  to  civilized  habits.  The  H'Kokomish 
tribe  have  for  six  years  pjust  nwidcd  on  lands  allotted  to  them  in  severalty,  have 
cleared  small  farms,  built  comfortable  housw,  and  ac(piired  the  substantial  comforts 
of  civilized  life.  Their  children  all  attend  school,  and  their  young  men  arc  learning 
trades. 

The  Tulalip  Agency  c;»nsists  of  five  reservations,  covering  an  area  of  eighty- 
three  sqjiare  miles,  and  containing  a  jiopulation  of  two  thousand  eight  hundred  .ind 
niiH'ty-eight  Indians.  Most  of  these  have  discarded  their  fornier  habits  and  vulopted 
the  ciistoms  of  civilization.  There  are  six  schools  in  this  agency,  two  of  them 
boarding-schools  managed  by  the  Sistei*s  of  Charity.  Nearly  all  the  Ir.dians  of 
tiiis  agency  are  llonuin  Catholics.  There  are  nearly  four  thousand  Indians  on  the 
Yakima  Reservation,  who  are  daily  improving  in  thrift  and  industry,  and  manifest 
an  incrciisi.ig  d«'sire  for  the  ac(piisition  of  the  comforts  of  life,  and  for  tlie  relin- 
(piishment  of  their  old  ways,  that  they  may  become  more  closely  fussimilated  to  the 
whites  around  tiicm. 

TheColville  Reservation,  in  the  nortbesusttfrn  por^'in  of  the  Territory,  established 
in  1872.  contains  two  million  i'iglit  hiiiKircd  thousand  acres,  and  a  population  of 
three  thousand  live  liiinilrcd  and  three.  The  C(eiir  irAlem-s  (four  hundred  and 
lifty)  are  on  this  reserve,  tlic  Lakes,  Okanagaiis,  ainl  t^an  P(M!ls  (nine  hundred  and 
eighty-three)  are  on  the  Colville  Reserve,  and  the  Met-hows  (three  hundred  and 
lifteeii)  are  on  the  Columbia  Jieserve.  i^ix  hundred  and  seventy  Colvilles  are 
.'settled  on  the  east  side  of  the  Coiiiinitia  Iviver.  The  Spokans  (six  hundred  ami 
eighty-five)  are  living  along  the  Spokan  River,  and  the  I'end  d'Oreilles  (lour  liiiii- 
died)  are  principally  up<tn  Callisjiel  J^ake.  These  Indians,  especially  (he  Cieiir 
d'Alenes,  are  making  satisfactory  progress  in  agricultural  pursuit.s.  They  have  im 
assistance  from  the  gnvfrnniciit  ntlicr  than  the  siipporl  of  a  lioardiiig-schoul  ol' 
twentv-five  scholars,  which  is  in  cliary;e  of  the  Sisters  i»f  Charitv.  I'he  iMtardiiiii- 
.srlioul  at  Colville  is  also  in  charge  of  the  Sisters,  whi>s»'  labors  are  highly  salutary 
and  praiseworthy. 


THE   TIWiES. 


3G3 


J0AKOTA8,  OH   SIOUX. 

Dr.  Tlioinius  S.  Williamson,  of  (Jhio,  wlio  spent  sevoral  years  among  the  Dakotas 
of  the  MisHi8sii)i)i,  settles  definitely  the  ancient  locality  of  a  portion  of  the  river 
tribes  of  the  Dakota  stock  at  Mille  Lacs,  the  source  of  Rum  Itivor,  in  Minnesota ; 
and  this  is  ai)parently  the  ancient  location  of  the  "  Issati"  of  Hennepin,  a  fact  which 
restores  full  credibility  to  an  important  part  of  that  intrei)id  nnssionary's  narrative. 
It  is  known  that  the  l>akotas  have  for  more  than  two  centuries  been  receding  before 
the  fierce  and  warlike  forest  clans  of  the  Algonkins,  whom  the  French  were  the  first 
to  supply  with  fire-arms. 

"They  have  rcsidcil,"  says  Dr.  Williamson,  "  near  the  confluence  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  St.  Peter's  for  at  least  two  hundred  years.  They  say  they  were  residing  in 
this  neighijorhood  bef(jre  the  Assinilmines  si'i)aratcd  from  tliem,  and  that  when  their 
ancestors  came  to  that  country  it  was  inhabited  by  Indians  of  other  tribes,  who  left 
the  country  when  they  came  into  it.  They  say  that  their  ancestors  before  they  came 
to  the  Mississippi  lived  at  Mille  Lacs,  whicli  they  call  Isantamde  (Knife  Lake). 
From  their  having  resided  at  that  i)lace  probably  comes  the  name  Isanyati  (dwelling 
at  the  knife),  by  which  the  J)akotius  of  the  Missouri  cull  those  who  live  on  the  Mi.s- 
sissippi  and  St.  Peter's.  Their  traditions  all  show  that  they  came  from  the  northea.st 
and  are  moving  to  the  southwest.  Their  country  ('..temleil  from  the  Mississippi  to 
the  Black  ilills.  Its  eastern  j>ortion  is  now  the  Suite  of  Minnesota.  They  were 
almost  without  agriculture,  and  depi-nded  upon  iish,  game,  and  wild  rice.  Their 
proper  name,  Dakota,  signilics  aUird  or  li'or/iud  loijil/wr,  and  is  ecpiivalent  to  our 
r.iune  United,  as  applied  to  the  States,  and  all  who  are  not  Dakotius,  or  allies,  are 
consiilered  enemies,  and  it  is  deemed  glorious  to  kill  one  of  them,  though  dfsccnded 
fmm  the  Dakotu  family  ;  as  the  similarity  of  language  shows  to  be  the  ca.se  with  not 
only  Assiniboines,  but  the  \Vinnebag(i>  s,  lowiis,  Omahaws,  OsMges,  and  Quapaws. 
Tiu'y  were  called  by  the  Algonkins  Xadonessieux  (enemies),  shortened  by  the  French 
to  Sioux. 

"There  are  three  grand  divisions  of  the  Dakotius :  L  The  Isanyati  (Santees), 
who  re,sided  on  or  near  ihe  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Peter's,  and  most  of 
whom  plant  some  corn.  Tlie.se  are  subdivid'Ml  into  ;'ie  Mde-wahantonwan,  Warpe- 
tduwan  (\Vah|)eton),  Sisitonwaii  (Sis.seton),  and  Warpekute,  and  altogether  are 
lii'tween  five  th(aisand  ;iiid  six  thousand  souls.  Witiiin  the  memory  of  jiersons  still 
living,  these  all  lived  near  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Peter's,  within  narrower  space 
tlian  they  now  occu[)y,  their  eastern  limit  being  about  the  Falls  of  St.  C'roi.x,  the 
iiorlhern  limit  not  far  beyond  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  the  western  not  far  from 
tlie  mouth  of  JMuc  Fartii  Kiver. 

"lid.  The  Ilianktonwan  (Yankton),  of  whidi  the  lhinki)atida!i  and  Ilianton- 
wanna  are  subdivisions.  Tt)nwaii  signifies  'to  dwell,'  or  'dwelling.'  Ihanktonwan 
signifies  'inhabiting  tlm  end  or  extremity,'  and  probal)ly  was  given  them  from  tiieir 
liaving  fi)rnierly  dwelt  at  the  head-waters  or  extremities  of  the  Mississippi  or  St. 


1 

1 

r 

3G4 


77/ A'  INDIAN  TRIBES   Of   TIIL    UNITKD  STAl'fJS. 


Peter's,  in  which  country  they  dwelt  at  tlie  commencement  of  this  century.  They  at 
present  [1855]  range  over  the  immense  prairies  between  Bt.  Peter's  and  Red  River  of 
Lake  Winnipeg  on  the  nortlieast  and  the  Missouri  on  the  southwest,  often  crossing 
the  latter  stream.  A  few  of  them  planted  on  an  island  in  Lake  Traverse,  and  a  i'ew 
on  the  Missouri,  but  most  of  them  depended  for  a  subsistence  entirely  on  the  buffalo. 
Their  numbers  arc  variously  estimated  at  from  four  thousand  to  eigiit  thousand,  or 
even  more.  Tiieir  dialect  differs  considerably  from  those  of  the  other  divisions,  and, 
like  their  location,  seems  to  be  intermediate  between  them. 

"  3d.  The  Titonwan  (Tetons)  constitute  the  last  grand  division  of  the  Dakotas, 
and  are  said  to  be  more  numerous  than  both  the  others.  They  are  divided  into 
many  bands.  It  is  said  that  none  of  them  2>liiiit)  and  but  few  of  them  are  found  to 
the  northeiist  of  the  Missouri.  In  the  Titonwan  dialect  the  sounds  of  /  and  g  hard 
are  both  very  common.  In  the  other  dialects  the  former  is  never  heard,  and  tlie 
latter  only  at  the  end  of  words." 

The  Dakotas  acknowledge  seven  nations  or  divisions,  of  which  the  seventh,  the 
Tetons,  wiis  subdivided  into  eight  bands.  They  are  now  organized  into  twc'vi 
bands,  known  as  Isaunties,  or  Santees,  Yanktons,  Yanktonnais,  Sissetons,  Ogalallao 
Brules,  Uncpapsus,  lilackfeet,  Dakotas,  Ohenonpas,  Minikanyes  (Minneconjou8),Sans 
Arcs,  and  Itazipcos.  Isaunties  is  n  generic  term  used  by  the  Western  Dakotas  to 
designate  their  kindred  on  the  Mississippi;  and  Tetons  is  another  employed  by 
the  latter  to  describe  the  former.  They  also  speak  of  their  confederacy  as  the  Seven 
Council-Fires,  from  their  seven  political  divisions. 

Our  diplomatic  relations  with  the  Sioux  began  in  the  year  1815.  The  treaty  of 
Prairie  du  Chien,  in  1825,  dolined  ihe  boundaries  between  the  Chippewas  and  the 
Sioux,  and  it  was  hoped  that  their  incessant  feuds  might  be  brought  to  an  end. 
Fighting,  however,  went  on  as  before,  white  traders  suffering  as  much  as  the  Indians 
themselves.  Subsequent  treaties  have  been  made  with  them  as  follows :  at  Prairie 
du  Cliicn,  in  1830,  ceding  land  between  the  Mississippi  and  Des  Moines  Rivers; 
another,  in  183(5,  ceding  to  the  State  of  Missouri  a  long,  narrow  belt  of  country  on 
tlie  Missouri  Rive;  at  Washington,  in  1837,  ceding  all  their  land  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River;  and  in  1841,  ceding  thirty-five  million  acres  on  the  west  side  of  that 
river,  "  the  garden-spot  of  the  Mississij)pi  Valley,  larger  than  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  fertile  beyond  description."  In  its  transactions  with  the  government  tliix 
tribe  has  been  tricked  and  cheated  on  all  sides, — promised  a  home  in  ring  and 
ordered  off  before  harvest.  The  pi'ople  have  been  in  a  starving  condition  much  of  tiie 
time,  liable  at  any  moment  to  have  bodies  of  United  States  soldiers  swoop  down  on 
them  and  punish  whole  bands  for  depredations  committed  by  a  handful,  perhaps,  of  a 
totally  distinct  band,  and  the  whole  nation  has  been  bantlied  aimut  from  civil  authori  v 
fo  military  ;  aiid  yet  the  Ogalalla  band,  which  has  jtecn  nu)ved  eight  times  since  18v,.» 
hius  made  tiie  most  decided  advance  towart'.-t  civilization  of  any  Indian  community 
since  that  dale.  15y  the  treaty  of  Fort  Laramie,  in  1851,  the  bonntlaricf^  with  the 
Western  tribes  were  settled,  and  the  United  States  were  by  payment  of  an  annuity  of 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  fifty  years  entitled  to  estai)lish  roads  and  military  posts 


THE   TRIBES. 


866 


They  at 
River  of 

crossing 
nd  a  lew 
e  buffalo, 
usand,  or 
ions,  and, 

Dakotas, 
ided  into 
found  to 
id  g  hard 
,  and  t'.ie 

/enth,  the 
to  twe'vi 
Ogalallac, 
ous),  Sans 
)akotas  to 
ployed  by 
the  Seven 

}  treaty  of 
3  and  the 
0  an  end. 
le  Indians 
at  Prairie 
s  Rivers; 
ountry  on 
f  the  Mis- 
dc  of  that 
e  of  New 
inent  thi-* 
ing  and 
uch  of  the 
down  on 
hups,  of  a 
author!  ; 
iiice  \h\..j, 
onimunity 
witii  tlie 
miniity  of 
itary  posts 


m 


within  their  limits.  The  United  States  Senate  virtually  annulled  this  treaty  by 
limiting  the  annuity  to  fifteen  years,  and  hostilities  broke  out  in  1854.  In  1855, 
General  Harney  destroyed  a  peaceful  Sioux  village,  killing  eighty-six  men,  women, 
and  children.  The  "  Powder  River"  war  of  186G-68  resulted  from  the  attempt  to 
open  to  travel  the  route  to  the  gold-fields  of  Montana  through  the  especial  buffalo 
range  of  the  Sioux.  In  the  course  of  it  the  massacre  of  Colonel  Fetterman  and  his 
entire  command  occurred.  The  result  of  the  Sioux  war  of  1862  in  Minnesota  was 
their  removal  from  that  State  to  Dakota,  where  they  were  placed  upon  reservations. 
Ordered  in  1875  by  General  Sheridan,  in  violation  of  their  treaty  stipulations,  to 
abandon  their  hunting-grounds  and  come  into  their  reservation,  the  Sioux,  disre- 
garding the  order,  were  attacked  in  the  following  spring,  and  the  village  of  Crazy 
Horse  was  destroyed.  On  June  25,  1876,  at  the  Little  Big  Horn,  General  Custer 
and  his  entire  command  were  destroyed  by  Sitting  Bull  and  his  warriors,  who  subse- 
quently made  their  way  into  the  British  possessions.  This  hostile  force  surrendered 
to  Major  Brotherton  at  Fort  Buford,  July  10,  1881. 

The  Sioux  are  at  present  the  most  numerous  and  powerful  tribe  in  North  Amer- 
ica. They  are  of  fine  physirae,  are  endowed  with  great  personal  courage,  and  are 
skilful  warriors.  Though  backward  in  adopting  civilization,  their  intellectual  powers 
compare  favorably  with  those  of  other  tribes.  They  have  long  been  a  terror  to  their 
white  and  Indian  neighbors.  They  number  thirty-two  thousand  two  hundred  and 
eighty -six,  gathered  at  eleven  agencies, — nine  in  Dakota,  one  in  Montana,  and  one  in 
Nebraska.  At  Santee,  Sisaeton,  and  Devil's  Lake  Agencies,  the  point  of  self-support 
is  nearly  reached.  They  are  located  in  severalty,  live  in  hr  uses,  wear  citizens'  dress, 
send  their  children  to  school,  and  own  farming  implements,  and  stock.  About  three- 
fourths  of  the  Sioux  at  the  Yankton  Agency  have  made  equal  progress  in  adopting 
the  customs  of  civilized  life. 

At  Cheyenne  River,  Crow  Creek,  Standing  Rock,  and  Lower  Brule  Agencies, 
progress  wiis  seriously  retarded  by  the  Sioux  war  of  1877 ;  but  the  erection  of  seven 
liundred  and  eighteen  houses,  the  selection  of  individual  farrafe,  the  breaking  of 
six  hundred  acres,  and  the  raising  of  forty-ono  thousand  bushels  of  whes.t  and 
!i»in  and  twelve  thousand  bushels  of  vegetables  by  these  Indians  in  the  year  1880, 
h.  ■)W  them  to  l)e  advancing  with  the  remainder  of  the  Sioux  nation.  The  four 
■  luvisand  seven  liundrod  and  thirteen  Yanktonnais  Sioux  at  Fort  Peck,  with  the 
V:i  them  Sioux  who  deserted  Sitting  Bull's  camp  and  attached  themselves  to  this 
agency,  are  the  only  Sioux  who  now  engage  in  hunting  to  any  extent.  They  are 
wild  blanket-Indians,  who  have  only  recently  made  their  first  ailvance  towards 
eivilizii  .'111. 

During  the  winter  of  1878  the  Ogalalla  and  Bruh*'  Sioux,  under  chiefs  Red 
Cloud  and  Spotted  Tail,  remov -t  from  the  Missouri  River  to  their  reserve,  where 
they  are  opening  farms  and  building  hoijscs.  They  have  engaged  enthusiastically 
in  freighting,  and  are  locating  their  housi's  at  wide  distances  from  one  another,  instead 
of  crowding  together  in  one  central  camp  or  village.  They  are  orderly  and  peaceful, 
aiiu  a  fairer  record  could  not  reasonably  be  expected  from  fourteen  thousand  wild, 


m 


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■*y 


r  .;■ 


366 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUE   UNITED  STATES. 


restless  Indians,  who,  during  tlio  Sitting  Bull  campaign  in  1876-77,  furnished  the 
largest  number  of  recruits  for  the  hostile  force. 

Red  Cloud,  head  chief  of  the  Sioux,  was  born  at  the  Forks  of  the  Platte  in 
1820.  He  was  made  a  chief  for  bravery  in  battle,  and  rose  to  be  head  chief  in 
1850.  He  is  said  to  have  been  in  eighty-seven  engagements,  and  has  frequently 
been  wounded.  He  is  six  feet  and  six  inches  in  height,  possesses  wonderful  sagacity 
and  eloquence,  and  is  skilful  in  the  use  of  the  tomahawk,  rifle,  and  bow  and  arrow. 
He  was  in  the  battle  with  Fetterman's  command  at  Fort  Phil  Kearney,  and  visited 
President  Grant  in  December,  1866.  Spotted  Tail,  another  leading  chief  of  the 
Sioux,  was  shot  at  the  liosebud  Agency,  August  1,  1881,  by  Crow  Dog,  chief  of  the 
Indian  police.  Perceiving  the  uselessness  of  flghting  the  wliite  man,  he  managed  to 
keep  peace  with  them  whi'n  preserving  his  popularity  with  his  tribe  by  appearing  to 
hate  and  opjjcse  the  whites,  j  .>''  occasions.  His  sagacity  and  adroitness  are  shown 
by  the  following  anecdote.     1  aterview  with  the  President  at  the  White  House, 

after  the  latter  iiad  been  adcii-,  A  by  all  the  other  chiefs  standing.  Spotted  Tail 
called  for  a  chair,  seated  himself  near  the  President,  and  talked  with  him  with  easy 
familiarity,  >is  with  an  ecjual. 

The  Santee  Sioux  left  Minnesota  about  1862,  and,  after  several  removals,  8ettle<l 
on  the  southwest  bank  of  the  Missouri  lliver,  in  Knox  County,  Nebraska.  Each 
established  a  separate  home  for  himself  and  family,  and  the  tribe  eventually  became 
self-supporting.  They  have  abandoned  tribal  relations,  and,  instead  of  the  old  chiefs 
who  held  office  for  life,  they  now  annually  elect  by  ballot  councillors  who  hold  their 
office  for  two  years.  Their  reservation  is  twelve  miles  wide,  and  from  twelve  to 
eighteen  miles  long.  On  it  are  two  industrial  boarding-school  buildings,  frame 
dwelling-houses,  a  grist-mill,  a  steam  saw-mill,  etc.  The  insecurity  of  land  titles  on 
the  reservation  caused  the  removal  of  a  portion  of  the  Indians  to  Flandreau,  Dakota, 
on  the  Sioux  River,  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  north  of  Santee,  where  they  have 
taken  up  homesteads  of  from  forty  to  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  of  each  of 
which  they  are  the  legal  owners. 

Catlin,  the  artist  who  contributed  so  largely  to  our  knowledge  of  the  American 
Indian,  and  who  sj)ent  some  time  among  the  Sioux,  says  of  them,  "  There  is  no  tribe 
on  the  continent  of  finer-looking  men,  and  few  tribes  who  are  better  or  more  com- 
fortably clad  and  supplied  with  the  necessaries  of  life.  ...  I  have  travelled  several 
years  among  these  people,  and  I  have  not  had  my  scalp  taken,  nor  a  blow  struck  me, 
nor  has  my  j)roperty  been  stolen,  to  my  knowledge,  to  the  value  of  a  shilling,  and 
that  in  a  country  where  no  man  is  punishable  by  law  for  the  crime  of  stealing." 

The  badge  or  name  of  a  Sioux  village  is  gem-rally  taken  from  the  j)osition  or 
place  in  which  it  is  situated,  as  in  the  following  instances,  viz. :  Wi-alla-cke-chah,  or 
IJad ;  Ohah-hans-hah,  situated  on  a  long  reach  of  the  river ;  Haminc-elian,  from  the 
mountain  of  rocks  above  Lake  Pepin ;  Wu/ik-pn/on,  from  being  where  there  is  a 
large  quantity  of  foliage ;  Kah-po-sia,  from  the  following  incident :  some  Indians, 
having  gone  on  a  hunting  tour,  took  up  tlicir  burdens,  which  were  said  to  be  heavy, 
walked  off'  lightly,  and  made  long  marcluH :  this  gave  rise  to  the  name  Kah-po-aia, 


THE  TRIBES. 


367 


which  means  "  light."  All  those  that  use  the  same  roots  for  medicines  constitute  a 
clan.  Tlipse  clans,  into  which  both  sexes  are  initiated  through  the  great  medicine- 
dance,  are  numerous,  and  each  has  its  secret  badge.  Constant  feuds  are  kept  up 
between  them,  at  the  expense  of  much  bloodshed,  each  clan  attributing  superior 
power  to  the  other,  and  believing  that  it  can  cause  the  death  of  any  person,  however 
remote  from  it  he  may  dwell. 

The  chieftainship  is  of  modern  date,  having  arisen  since  the  Indians  first  became 
acquainted  with  the  whites.  The  first  Sioux  that  was  ever  made  a  chief  among  the 
Dakotaa  was  Waubashaw,  and  this  was  done  by  the  British.  Since  that  time  chief- 
tainship has  been  hereditary.  Tliere  are  small  bands  existing  that  have  no  recognized 
chiefs.  The  females  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  chieftainship.  There  is  no  par- 
ticular ceremony  to  instal  a  man  chief,  except  that  the  father  before  he  dies  may  tell 
the  band  that  he  leaves  his  son  to  take  his  place,  and  the  son  generally  presents  him- 
self to  the  Indian  agent,  the  principal  soldier  speaking  for  him,  saving  to  the  agent, 
"  Our  former  chief  has  left  this  his  son  to  be  our  chief."  This  is  about  all  of  the 
ceremony.  The  chiefs  have  but  little  power.  If  »n  Indian  wishes  to  do  mischief, 
the  only  way  in  which  a  chief  can  influence  him  is  to  give  him  something,  or  pay 
him,  to  desist  from  his  evil  intentions.  The  chief  has  no  authority  to  act  for  the 
tribe.  If  he  should  attempt  to  do  so,  he  would  be  severely  beaten,  perhaps  even 
killed,  at  some  future  time.  The  office  is  not  of  much  consequence,  for  the  chiefs 
have  no  salary,  and  are  obliged  to  seek  a  livelihood  in  the  same  way  that  a  common 
Indian  docs.  A  chief  is  not  better  dressed  than  the  rest  of  the  Indians,  and  often 
not  so  well.  The  band  of  which  an  Indian  is  chief  is  almost  always  of  a  kin  totem, 
and  his  kindred  help  to  sustain  his  authority. 

The  democratic  principle  is  implanted  rather  deeply  in  the  Indians  in  general. 
They  all  wish  to  govern  and  not  to  be  governed.  Every  Indian  thinks  he  has  a 
right  to  do  as  he  pleases,  and  that  no  one  is  better  than  himself;  and  he  will  fight 
before  he  will  give  up  what  he  thinks  right.  No  votes  are  cast  in  their  assemblies. 
All  business  is  done  by  the  majority  of  the  band  assembling  and  consulting  one 
another.  Some  one  will  set  up  for  or  against  a  motion,  and  the  action  that  appears 
the  best  is  adopted  by  general  consent.  The  voice  of  the  chief  is  not  considered 
decisive  until  a  majority  of  the  band  have  had  a  voice,  and  ihen  the  chief  has  to  be 
governed  according  to  that  voice.  Councils  arc  generally  opened  by  some  chief. 
When  the  subject  under  discussion  concerns  the  soldiers,  or  "  braves,"  the  first  or 
principal  soldier  is  authorized  to  .speak  or  act  as  orator  for  the  party  assembled. 
There  is  generally  some  remark  made  about  the  weather,  as  an  omen  that  the  Great 
S})irit  favors  or  opjwses  their  wishes.  Questions  of  a  grave  character,  such  as  their 
relations  with  the  white  people,  are  deliberated  upon  by  all  interested;  but  cases 
of  revenge  are  acted  on  ])recipitately.  Decisions  made  by  a  delegation  are  con- 
sidered lawful  and  binding,  but  the  acts  of  a  single  chief  are  binding  only  upon 
his  own  village.  In  cases  of  nmrder,  the  parties  aggrieved  generally  seek  revenge 
themselves,  although  instances  occur  where  a  murderer  is  put  to  death  by  the 
authority  of  the  council. 


¥ 

si 
I! 


ni  h 


368  ^^'^'  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


A88INIBOINES. 

The  Assiniboiiies  constitute  a  separate  branch  of  the  Dakota  or  Sioux  nation, 
who  are  settled  on  the  plains  west  of  Keel  River  of  Hudson  I3ay.  The  name  is 
Ojibwa.  It  is  formed  from  ossin,  a  stone,  and  bwo'in,  a  Dakota.  The  latter  being 
a  derivative  from  the  term  for  a  roasting-spit,  the  first  member  of  the  present  word 
converts  it  into  stone-roasters, — that  is  to  say,  roasters  by  hot  stones ;  a  practice  in 
their  forest  cookery.  They  are  usually  called,  with  less  discriminative  attention  to 
the  etymology,  Stone-Sioux,  the  word  Sioux  being  the  French  term  for  Dakotii. 
They  are  called  by  the  main  body  of  the  Dakotas  themselves,  from  whom  they  broke 
off  at  an  early  time,  lloha,  or  Kebels.  Their  own  name  for  themselves  is  not  known. 
Since  their  se])aration  the  DakoUis  have  regarded  them  as  enemies.  The  word  As- 
siniboine  is  variously  spelled  by  different  writer's, — the  chief  variations  consisting  in 
the  substitution  of  p  for  b,  and  of  /  for  n. 

Tlie  separation  of  the  tribe  from  the  Dakotas  occurred  at  a  time  unknown,  but 
previous  to  the  period  of  European  discovery.  They  are  mentioned  in  IGGD  by 
Father  Marquette,  writing  from  the  ancient  mission  of  Chegoimegon,  on  Lake  Supe- 
rior. Mackenzie,  in  his  account  of  the  fur  trade,  locates  them  where  the  most  recent 
notices  still  leave  them, — on  the  Assiniboipe  or  Red  River,  and  the  open  plains  west 
of  its  recipieu*.  Lake  Winnipeg.  They  speak  a  dialect  of  the  Dakota.  After  a 
geographical  separation  of  more  than  two  hundred  years,  their  dialects  are  mutually 
intelligible  with  entire  facility. 

The  Assiniboines  are  at  peace  with  the  Chippcwas  and  the  Knisteneaux.  They 
occupy  a  jiosition  next  to  the  latter  or  the  great  plains  which  extend  west  to  the 
banks  of  the  Missouri.  On  th^ic  rro'-.s  plains  they  hunt  the  buffalo  lind  tru[)  wolves. 
Tlie  flesh  of  the  former  which  is  not  wanted  for  immediate  use  they  make  into  pem- 
mican,  which  is  done  by  pounding  the  dried  meat  and  mixing  it  with  fat.  In  this 
stJite  it  is  closely  packed  in  bags  of  skin.  Their  clothing  is  made  from  buffalo-skins. 
The  flesh  of  wolves  they  never  eat,  but  procure  a  tallow  from  their  fat  which  is 
useful  in  dressing  skins.  Their  traffic  consists  of  dressetl  buffalo-skins  and  pemmican, 
which  they  exchange  for  arms,  ammunition,  cutlery,  tobacco,  and  ardent  spirits. 
They  do  not  hunt  the  beaver,  and  consequently  do  not  trench  on  the  hunting-grounds 
of  the  Ciiippewius,  Algonkins,  and  Knisteneaux  near  them,  which  tends  to  preserve 
their  alliance. 

Mackenzie  estimates  the  number  of  the  Assiniboiiies  at  five  hundred  families. 
Ivcwis  and  Clarke  riickon  them  at  sixteen  hundred  warriors.  In  Major  Long's 
Second  Expedition  they  are  reported,  on  imperfect  data,  at  twenty-eight  thousand. 
Mr.  CJallatin,  in  his  "Synopsis  of  tlie  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,"  estimates 
them  witii  more  precisicjii,  in  18;U),  at  six  tliousand  souls.  The  forty-ninth  degree 
of  north  latitude,  extended  from  tlie  Lake  of  the  \V(jods,  bisects  their  hunting- 
grounds,  leaving,  it  is  believed,  the  larger  part  of  the  nation  within  the  boundaries 
of  Canada. 


\ 


*f*w--- 


THE  TRIBES. 


3G9 


MANDANS. 


m 


The  MandaiiH,  according  to  a  tradition  which  thoy  coniniunicated  in  1805,  had  a 
subterraneous  origin.  They  were  shut  out  from  the  light  of  heaven,  and  dwelt 
together  near  an  underground  lake.  A  grape-vine,  which  extended  its  adventurous 
roots  far  into  the  earth,  gave  them  the  lirst  intimation  of  the  light  that  gladdened  the 
face  of  the  world  above  them.  Hy  means  of  this  vine  one-half  of  the  tribe  climbed 
up  to  the  .surface,  and  were  delighted  with  the  light  and  air,  wild  fruits,  and  game. 
The  other  half  were  left  in  their  dark  prison-house,  owing  to  the  bulk  and  weight  of 
an  old  woman,  who,  by  her  corpulency,  tore  down  the  vine  and  prevented  any  more 
of  the  tribe  from  ascending. 

The  religion  of  the  Mandaus  consists  in  a  belief  in  one  great  presiding  good 
spirit,  who  is  observant  of  their  destinies.  Each  individual  selects  for  himself  some 
animal  or  other  object  of  personal  devotion.  This  animal,  or  other  object,  becomes 
his  protector  and  interceasor  with  the  Great  Spirit.  To  please  and  propitiate  this 
animal,  every  attention  is  bestowed.  Success  in  war,  as  in  hunting  and  i)lanting,  is 
sought  through  this  interc&ssor,  who  is  ever  regarded  iis  a  guardian  spirit.  The 
rites  of  this  guardian-worshij)  are  generally  secret,  and  the  favor  sought  is  through 
magic,  or  through  the  skill  of  the  supplicant  in  simples  and  medicines.  Every 
operation  of  the  laws  of  nature  which  is  not  i)alpable  to  the  senses  is  deemed  mys- 
terious and  supernatural.  IJy  the  ignorant  Canadians  who  were  first  brought  into 
contact  with  the  tribe  this  unseen  action  was  called  "  a  medicine."  The  Indians 
readily  adopted  this  erroni'ous  phra.se,  and  they  arc  now  disposed  to  look  upon  every 
mysterious  ])henomen()n  as  medical  in  its  nature. 

Information  given  to  General  William  Clarke,  in  his  expedition  up  the  Missouri, 
would  indicate  that  the  Mandans  have  suflered  greater  vicissitudes  of  fortune  than 
most  of  the  American  tribes.  About  a  century  ago  they  were  settled  on  both  banks 
of  the  Mi.s.souri,  some  lifteen  hundred  miles  above  its  mouth.  They  were  then  living  in 
nine  villages,  surrounded  by  circular  walls  of  earth.  The  ruins  of  one  of  the  old  vil- 
lages, ob.served  in  1804,  covered  nearly  eight  acres.  Two  of  these  villages  were  on  the 
east  and  seven  on  the  west  side  of  the  Missouri.  The  JNIandans  were  lirst  discovered 
and  made  known  to  the  whites,  who  settled  in  the  region  indicated,  in  1772.  They  ap- 
pear to  have  been  bitterly  hostile  to  the  Dakotas  or  Sioux  and  Assiniboincs,  who,  from 
tiie  earliest  traditionary  times,  waged  fierce  war  against  them.  Finding  themselves 
sorely  pressed  by  this  war,  and  having  exj)erienced  the  wasting  inroads  of  smallpox, 
the  two  ea.stern  villages  united  into  one,  anil  the  people  migrated  up  the  river  to  a 
point  opposite  the  Arickarees,  fourteen  hundred  and  thirty  miles  above  its  mouth, 
'i'iie  same  causes  soon  pressed  upon  the  seven  western  villages,  reducing  them  to  five. 
Their  inhabitants  al.so  afterwards  migrated  in  a  l)ody,  and  joined  their  relatives  in 
tlie  Arickuree  country,  where  they  settled  themselves  in  two  large  villages.  Here 
they  dwelt  for  a  time,  still  subject  to  the  fierce  attacks  of  their  enemies  ;  then,  deeming 
the  jHwition  unfavorable,  they  removed  higher  up  the  river  and  took  ]iossession  of  u 

IT 


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370 


THE  INDIAN  TRIIiKfi  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


precipitous  and  easily  defensible  point  of  land  formed  by  a  bend  of  the  Missouri, 
where  they  constituted  one  compact  village  in  177(!.  The  eastern  IMandans  had  set- 
tled in  two  villages,  but,  linding  the  attacks  of  the  Sioux  hard  to  be  resisted,  they 
united  also  in  one  village.  The  two  divisions  of  Mandan  villages  were  still  separated 
by  the  Missouri  Itiver,  but  seated  directly  opposite  each  other,  and  about  three  miles 
apart. 

The  position  is  estimated  to  be  sixteen  hundred  miles  from  the  junction  of  the 
Missouri  with  the  Mississippi.  There  they  were  visited  by  Lewis  and  Clarke  on  the 
27th  of  October,  1804.  This  was  a  memorable  and  auspicious  event  in  their  his- 
tt)ry,  as  the  intrepid  American  exjilorers  determined  to  pass  their  first  winter  in  this 
vicinity.  They  built  Fort  Mandan  a  few  miles  distant,  on  a  heavily-wooded  j)i(!ce 
of  bottom-land,  which  yieliled  trees  of  sullicient  size  for  erecting  quarters  for  them- 
selves and  the  men.  They  immediately  opened  an  intercourse  with  the  Mandans, 
and  established  a  friendshij)  with  them,  which  was  strengthened  by  the  incidents  of 
a  winter's  resuience.  Caj)tain  Clarke  on  one  occasion  marched  out  with  a  body  of 
men  to  defend  them  against  a  murderous  attack  of  the  Sioux,  and  by  this  act  of 
friendship  secured  their  highest  respect  and  gave  them  a  practical  assurance  of  his 
lidclity.  In  accordance  with  the  policy  of  the  government,  he  counselled  them 
against  the  fatal  j)olicy  of  those  wars  which  had  reduced  their  population  from  nine 
to  two  villages  and  threatened  them  with  extinction.  He  recognized  Poscopsahe,  or 
Black  Wild  Cat,  as  their  first  chief,  and  Kagonamok  as  their  second  chief,  with  their 
subordimites,  and  distributed  medals  and  flags  in  accordance  with  these  recognitions. 
Poscopsahe  responded  to  his  advice,  j)roj)osing  a  general  j)eace  among  the  prairie 
tribes,  and  admitted  the  good  influences  that  must  flow  from  this  expedition  through 
their  country.  The  expedition  remained  some  five  months  at  Fort  Mandan,  and 
made  a  very  favorable  impression  upon  this  tribe. 

No  estimate  of  the  Mandun  population  is  given  by  Ijcwis  and  Clarke.  It  is  a 
point  respecting  which  their  chiefs  seem  to  have  l)een  studiously  silent.  It  is  to  be 
remarked  that  the  whole  aboriginal  po[)ulation  of  the  United  States  have  at  all  periods 
of  their  history  manifested  a  strong  repugnance  to  be  numbered. 

Surrounded  ius  the  Mandans  were  by  active  enemies,  and  doomed,  as  they  appear 
to  be,  to  extinction,  they  might  have  resisted  their  course  of  depojjulation  a  long 
period,  had  it  not  been  for  the  recurrence  of  smallpox  among  them  in  the  summer 
of  18;{7.  This  pestilence  swept  off  one-half  of  the  prairie  tribes,  and  the  Mandan 
j)opulation  was  reduced  in  a  few  days  to  less  than  one-sixteenth  of  its  previous 
luiniber.  One  of  the  rej)()rts  of  the  disaster  reduced  the  survivors  to  thirty-one, 
another  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-five,  another  to  one  hundred  and  forty-five. 
They  were  comj»elled  to  abandon  their  villages,  now  rendered  pi'stilential.  The 
survivors  at  first  fled  to  the  Minnetarees,  and  afterwards  established  a  snmll  village  a 
few  miles  above  the  old  site  of  Fort  Mandan.  liy  the  report  of  Colonel  I).  I). 
Mitchell,  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  in  1852,  the  number  of  the 
Mandans  was  shown  to  be  thre»^  hundred  and  eighty-five. 

They  live  at  present  in  a  permanent  village  with  the  Ariekarees  and  (Jros  Yen- 


THE   TRIBES. 


371 


tres  near  Fort  Berthold,  Dakota,  on  the  MisHouri.     Thoy  have  a  civilization  of  their 
own,  are  agrieulturiHts,  and  have  hour^oH  made  of  wood. 

The  origin  of  the  Man(hinH  is  a  wubjeot  on  whieli  tliere  has  been  great  diver- 
sity of  opinion.  In  1804-05,  during  tlie  ascent  of  Lewis  and  Clarke'.s  expedition, 
tiierc  lived  four  miles  below  the  Mandan  village,  at  a  place  called  Mahaha,  on  a 
high  plain  at  the  mouth  of  Knife  River,  the  remnant  of  a  tribe  called  Ahahways,  or 
"  people  who  dwell  on  a  hill."  They  were  called  by  the  French  Souliers  Noirs,  or 
Black  Shoes,  and  by  the  Mandans  Wattasoons,  This  people,  though  regarded  aa  a 
distinct  tribe,  appear  to  have  been  in  many  respects  closely  kindred  to  the  Mandans. 
They  dwelt  near  them,  at  lower  points  of  the  Missouri,  and  were  driven  off,  along 
with  the  Mandans,  by  the  Siouxs  and  Assiniboines,  by  whom  the  greater  part  of 
them  were  put  to  death.  They  coincide  with  them  in  their  religious  beliefs,  and  in 
their  manners  and  customs,  and  were  always  on  good  terms  with  them  and  with  their 
allies,  the  Minnetarees.  It  is  allirmed  of  the  Wattasoons  that  they  claim  to  have 
once  been  a  part  of  the  Upsaroka  or  Crow  nation,  whom  they  still  acknowledge  aa 
relations.  They  understand  the  language  of  the  Minnetarees,  their  near  neighbors 
and  friends,  and  it  is  presumed  that  they  are  affiliated  to  the  latter. 

MINNETAUEES   AND   AUICKAUEia. 

The  Minnetarees  were  found  in  their  present  pasition  by  Lewis  and  Clarke. 
They  formerly  occupied  three  small  villages  at  the  mouth  of  the  Knife  River.  They 
are  the  Gros  Ventres  and  Ponch  Indians  of  the  French,  and  the  Big  Bellies  and 
Fall  Indians  of  the  Hudson  Bay  traders.  The  accounts  given  to  these  explorers 
j)ut  them  at  six  hundred  warriors,  or  three  thousand  souls,  on  the  Missouri,  in  1804. 
Mandan  tradition  asserta  that  the  Minnetarees  came  out  of  the  water  to  the  east  and 
settled  near  them,  when  they  occupied  their  position  at  the  nine  villages ;  that  they 
were  a  numerous  people,  and  settled  themselves  on  the  southern  banks  of  the  Mis- 
souri. While  thus  seated,  a  feud  arose  among  them,  and  a  separation  took  place ; 
two  bands  of  them  went  into  the  plains,  under  sej)arate  leaders,  and  were  known  by 
llie  name  of  Crow  and  Paunch  Indians,  The  other  bands  moved  up  the  Missouri 
I'Ducurrently  with  themselvas  to  their  j)resent  jjosition.  In  these  migrations  the 
Minnetarees  and  Mandans  iiad  the  same  friends  and  the  same  enemies. 

This  trailition  the  Minnetarees  themselves  do  not  receive.  True  to  the  general 
Indian  j)rinciple  of  local  origin  and  independency,  they  assert  that  they  grew  out 
of  the  ground  where  they  now  live.  Tiiey  also  assert  that  the  Metahartjui,  or  Min- 
n«!tarees  of  the  Willows,  whose  language  is  the  same  as  theirs,  with  little  variation, 
also  came  out  of  the  {)lains  and  joined  them, — a  belief  which  confirms  the  Mandan 
tradition  of  their  former  dispersion  while  living  near  the  nine  villages. 

Lewis  and  Clarke  were  informed  that  the  Minnetarees  were  a  i)art  of  the  Fall 
Indians,  who  occupy  the  country  between  the  Missouri,  at  Mandan,  and  the  great 
Saskatchewan  River  of  Canada;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  they  are  in  reality  a 
l)and  of  Arapahoes  who  s  'X'ded  in  1815. 


372 


Tilt:  INDlAN^  TRIBES   OF  TllK   UNITED  STATES. 


"  Tiie  Minnotiin'os  iiiul  Crown,"  siiyn  Morgan, "  who  arc  sululivisions  of  an  original 
nation,  sccni  to  form  a  connecting  link  between  the  Dakota  and  Miasouri  nations  on 
the  one  Iianii,  and  the  Gulf  nations,  namely,  the  Creeks,  ('hoetaws,  Heniinoles,  etc., 
on  the  other.  Their  dialectii  elifcss  them  with  the  former,  their  Hystoin  of  consanguinity 
with  the  latter." 

When  the  snuillpox  disappeared  from  the  country,  the  once  powerful  nation  of 
]\Iandans  wa.s  re»luccd  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-live  souls,  and  the  nation  consisted 
mostly  of  women  and  children.  The  Arickarecs  (a  neighboring  and  friendly  tribe) 
moved  in  and  took  possession  of  the  village.  They  were  thus  for  the  time  being  pro- 
tected against  their  relentless  enemies  the  Sioux.  The  Arickarecs  were  oi-iginally  in 
the  Platte  Valley,  in  Nebraska,  with  the  Pawnees,  to  whom  they  were  relatetl. 
Within  the  present  century  they  have  made  their  way  northward  to  their  present 
location.  They  are  believed  to  be  a  distinct  tribe.  As  the  Mandan  children  grew 
np  and  intermarried,  the  population  rapidly  increased, — so  nuich  so  that  in  1847  the 
remnants  of  the  tribe  gathered  together  and  built  a  town  or  village  for  themselves, 
where  they  now  reside  on  friendly  terms  with  their  neighbors,  and  are  rapidly 
increasing  in  population. 

The  JMandans  are  a  proud,  high-spirited  tribe,  and  coidd  not  bear  the  idea  of 
losing  their  name  and  nationality  by  being  amalganuited  with  the  Arickarecs  or  any 
other  nation.  , 

In  their  language,  manners,  customs,  and  mode  of  life  they  arc  altogether  dillcr- 
ent  from  the  Indians  occupying  that  region  of  country,  and,  in  fact,  they  differ  from 
all  other  Indians  on  the  continent  of  America. 

Apart  from  their  peculiar  language  and  habits,  there  is  a  physical  peculiarity.  A 
large  portion  of  the  Mandans  have  gray  hair,  and  blue  or  light  brown  eyes,  with  u 
Jewish  ctust  of  features.  It  is  nothing  uncommon  to  see  children  of  both  sexes,  from 
five  to  t\x  years  of  age,  with  hair  perfectly  gray.  They  are  also  nnich  fairer  than 
the  prairie  or  mountain  tribes,  though  this  may  bo  in  some  degree  attributable  to 
the  fact  of  their  living  in  ilirt  lodges,  so  that  they  are  less  exposed  to  the  sun  than 
the  prairie  tribes. 


The  number  of  Indians  now  at  the  Fort  IJcrthold  Agency  is  twelve  hundred  and 
fifty-two, — viz.,  Arickarecs,  six  hundred  and  thirty-six;  (Jros  Ventres,  three  hundred 
and  sixty-four ;  Mandans,  two  hundred  and  fifly-two.  They  live  in  villages,  in  log 
houses  with  dirt  roofs.  These  houses  are  built  very  close  together,  with  no  regularity 
of  arrangement,  the  doors  facing  in  every  possible  direction,  with  a  considerable 
number  of  large  earth-covered  lodges  having  a  hole  in  the  top  to  let  the  light  in, 
which  also  serves  to  let  out  the  smoke  from  the  fire.  The  soil  they  have  to  cul- 
tivate is  thin,  rough,  and  rocky,  and  such  as  would  fail  to  give  a  white  man,  with 
all  his  superior  intelligence  and  experience,  a  living.  Nine-tenths  of  the  land  at 
this  reservation  is  wholly  unfit  for  cultivation.  They  have  no  treaty  with  the  gov- 
ernment, are  now  and  have  always  been  friendly  to  the  whites,  and  are  exceptionally 
known  to  the  officers  of  the  army  and  to  frontiersmen  as  "  good  Indians." 


ongiiiiil 
itioiiH  oil 
i)l('H,  cti;., 
ngiiiiiity 

lation  of 
consiHtod 
lly  trilic) 
'Miig  pro- 
!;in!illy  in 
I  reliited. 
p  present 
ren  grew 
1847  the 
emaelves, 
!  rapidly 

e  idea  of 
es  or  any 

cr  (litVer- 
ffer  from 

arity.  A 
;a,  with  a 
xes,  from 
irer  than 
lutahk;  to 
Buu  than 


id  red  and 
^  hunched 
;es,  in  hig 
•egiihirity 
isicU'ralde 
!  light  in, 
ve  to  cul- 
nan,  with 
a  land  al 
I  the  gov- 
jptionally 


m 


riii:  Tnini:s. 


373 


Tlu'Ho  IiidiiiiiH  uro  Htiil  wedded  to  iimiiy  of  tlieir  old  tniditidiis.  Se!iHnl(l-se|ndtiiro 
is  practiced  to  ii  coiiHidenihle  extent,  luit  interment  is  heectniiiifj  more  common.  Tho 
tniditioniil  Hun-dtinee,  with  its  iittendiint  tortnres,  tliroiij-li  wiiieli  the  candidate  wlio 
aspires  to  ho  a  "  hravo"  must  pans,  w  Htill  practised  amonj^  tlieni.  Tlie  medicine-man, 
once  indispciiHahh',  is  fast  losinj;  his  occupation,  and  tiie  Indians  are  with  increasing 
tVci|Mency  accepting  the  more  rational  treatment  of  the  agency  physiciun. 

ui'HAUOKAx,  on  ciiows, 

Th(i  Ujisaroka  or  Crow  Indians,  a  hrancli  of  the  Dakotas,  niniihcring  three 
thonsiind  fonr  huiKhrd  and  seventy,  occupy  a  reservation  of  eight  million  acres  of 
excellent  land  in  Southern  Montana.  This  was  their  original  range,  and  no  part  of 
the  surrounding  country  was  safe  from  their  raids.  They  are  a  cowardly  trihe,  noted 
as  marauders  and  horse-stt'alcrs.  They  were  crafty  enough  to  avoid  o|)en  'var  with 
the  whites,  hut  would  rob  them  on  all  occasions  when  opportunity  olVered.  They 
are  tall  and  athletic,  and  very  dark.  Intermarried  with  and  included  among  them 
are  llannoeks,  (iros  Ventres,  Assinihoines,  Piogans,  Arapahoes,  lUackfeet,  and  even 
their  hereditary  enemies  the  Sioux.  Many  of  these  were  captured  when  infant.s,  and 
adopted  into  the  Crow  trihe.  The  Crows  have  con-iderahle  property,  owning,  among 
other  items,  thirteen  thousand  nudos  and  horses.  They  are  essentially  nomadic,  and 
fond  of  the  chase,  which  is  their  main  dependenco,  as  the  government  supplies  them 
with  only  four  months'  rations.  As  a  trihe  they  are  notoriously  improvident,  knowing 
little  of  the  value  of  money.  Many  of  them  wear  articles  of  citizens'  dress.  Their 
principal  amusements  are  dancing,  singing,  and  horse-racing.  They  are  an  extremely 
light-hearted  and  contented  people.  Their  progress  in  civilization  is  very  small. 
They  have  hut  one  school,  with  only  nine  scholars. 


WINNKIJAOOES. 

The  name  of  Puants,  as  the  cognomen  for  an  Indian  tril)e,  first  appears  in  the 
Trench  missionary  authors  in  Kitil).  The  piniple  on  whom  they  iKWtowod  it  lived  on 
(ircen  15ay,  of  Wisconsin,  and  the  bay  itself  was  named  after  the  tribe.  l?y  the 
Algonkins  they  were  called  Wee-ni-bee-gog,  a  term  which  has  long  been  anglicized 
under  the  form  of  Winnebagoes.  The  original  is  founded  on  two  Algonkin  words, 
namely,  wernud,  turbid  or  foul,  and  nlhic(j,  the  plural  form  for  water.  The  words 
Winnipeg  and  Winnepeag,  names  for  Northern  lakes,  mean  simply  turbid  water.  It 
is  found  that  both  the  lakt's  thus  named  have  a  stratum  of  whitish  muddy  clay  at 
their  l)ottoms,  which  is  disturbed  by  high  winds,  giving  the  water  a  whitish  hue  and 
imparting  to  it  more  or  less  turbidity.  The  termination  o,  in  the  word  Winnebago, 
stands  in  the  place  of  the  accusative,  and  renders  the  term  personal. 

The  tribe  calls  it-^elf  Hochungara,  which  is  said  to  mean  Trout  nation,  and  some- 
times Horoji,  or  Fish-eaters.  They  appear  to  have  formerly  exercised  considerable 
inlluonce  among  the  surrounding  tribes.    Their  language  shows  them  to  belong  to  the 


m 


Wr 


ST^ 


374 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  UF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


It 


great  DiihoUi  stock  of  the  V/cst,  und  tliey  wore  found  in  the  van  of  that  group  of 
families  or  tribes,  being  the  only  one  of  its  ntunber  that  had  crossed  the  Mississippi 
below  Minnesota  in  its  progress  eastward. 

The  Winnebagoes  are  men  of  good  stature  and  dignified  bearing,  and  have  the 
characteristic  straight  black  hair,  black,  glistening  eyes,  and  red  skins  of  the  Indian 
race.  They  maintained  the  position  of  a  tribe  of  inde])endcnt  feelings  and  national 
pride  during  all  the  earlier  periods  of  our  acquaintance  with  them. 

The  claim  of  the  11  ichungaras  to  the  possession  of  considerable  mental  capacity 
is  sustained  by  the  cranial  admeasurements  made  some  years  ago  at  the  Academy  of 
Na'ural  Sciences  at  Philadelphia.  In  these  examinations  their  crania  were  shown  to 
have  an  average  internal  capacity  of  eighty-nine  cubic  inches,  and  a  facial  angle  of 
sev  ?nty-nine  degrees. 

How  long  they  had  ma'utuined  their  position  at  Green  Bay  before  the  arrival  of 
the  French  we  know  not.  But  they  had  receded  from  it  towards  the  West  before  the 
visit  of  Carver,  in  17()(5,  who  found  them  on  Fox  lliver.  Father  AUouez  says  that 
it  Wius  a  tradition  in  his  days  that  they  had  been  almost  destroyed,  about  1G40,  by 
the  Illinois.  They  luive  kept  on  good  terms,  wit'nin  the  period  of  history,  Vfith  the 
Saas  and  Foxes,  the  once  noted  and  erratic  Miiscotins,  the  Menomonie",  Ottawas, 
Chiiipewas,  and  Pottawatomios, — a  fact  which  denotes  a  wise  aiul  considerate  policy 
on  the  jiart  of  their  chiefs.  Their  own  traditions,  and  accounts  gathered  from  some 
of  the  tribes  o'.i  the  Missouri  River,  would  indicate  that  from  this  tribe  sprang  the 
lowas,  Missonris,  Otoes,  and  Onuihinvs.  These  Indians  call  the  Winnebagoes  elder 
brothers. 

The  earliest  Winnebago  traditions  relate  to  their  residence  at  Red  Ranks,  on  the 
east  ehore  of  Green  Bay,  where  they  traded  with  the  French.  They  have  a  tradition 
that  they  once  built  a  fort,  an  event  which  aj)pears  to  have  made  a  general  imj.ression 
r',  the  tril)e,  and  which  may  without  imj)rol)ability  be  connected  with  the  arclueo- 
logical  remains  of  an  ancient  work  at  Aztalan,  Wisconsin,  on  Rock  River. 

The  Wisconsin,  Rock,  and  Wolf  Rivers,  flowing  from  a  central  height  east, 
we.<t,  and  south,  gave  them  the  advantage  of  descending  on  their  enemies  at  will. 
T'lt  French  found  them  in  league  with  tiie  Mcnomonies,  and  these  two  tribes  gave 
shelter  to  the  flying  rfacs  and  Foxes  when  they  were  finally  expelled  from  Lower 
Michigan.  This  ilignt  was  not  completed  at  the  commencement  of  Pontiac's  war, 
— so  late  as  the  year  1700.  With  the  French,  notwitlistanding  the  reception  of  these 
two  fngiiivp  tribes,  tlay  maintained  friendly  relations,  and  traded  uninterruptedly. 
With  the  Chijt|n'\vas,  Ottawa.s,  Pottawatomios,  Kickapoos,  Mascotins,  and  other 
tribes  of  the  Algonkin  g  oup  of  families  wiio  surnmnded  their  possessions  norlii, 
oiist,  and  southeast,  tiioy  also  kept  on  general  terms  of  fru'udsliip, — a  point  that 
jonuired  gnat  address,  as  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  seemed  to  havi;  cut  loose  from  their 
ancient  natural  Algoukin  aflinities,  and  were  per|)etually  making  inroads  on  those 
tribes,  particularly  on  the  Chipj)ewas  of  Lake  Superior,  whom  they  united  with  the 
Sioux  in  opposing.  Tradition  represents  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  as  having  engaged  in 
battles  against  the  Chippewas  at  Lac  Vieux  Desert,  Lac  du  Flambeau,  and  tiie  Falls 


i 


1 


!>-i 


TUE   TRIBES. 


375 


lie  arclui'o- 


of  St.  Croix  and  Francis  Ilivcr,  on  the  Upper  Misnissippi.  They  were  defeated, 
along  with  the  Sioux,  by  tlie  Chippewiis  under  Waub-ojoeg,  in  a  great  battle  at  tlie 
Falls  of  St.  Croix.  For  the  Winnebagoes  to  preserve  their  relations  with  the  French 
under  these  circumstance.s  recpiired  skill  and  diplomacy ;  but  in  tliis  they  had  the 
support  of  the  great  body  of  the  Sioux,  their  relatives,  who  dwelt  immediately  west 
of  them  on  the  Mississippi. 

On  the  fall  of  the  French  power  in  Canada,  in  1700,  the  Winnebagoes  were  cau- 
tious about  entering  into  intimate  relations  with  Great  Britiiin.  But  the  French  had 
left  a»i  clement  of  great  influence  with  the  Western  Indians,  in  the  vulif  population, 
or  the  half-breeds,  of  mixed  French  and  Indian  blood.  This  power  was  conciliated 
l)y  the  English  agent.s  and  of'icers,  who  thus  mollified  the  Indian  resentments,  and 
iinally  gained  the  confldcnce  of  the  aboriginal  tribes. 

The  Winnebagoes  were  firm  in  their  ne,v  fealty.  They  opened  their  country  to 
English  traders  ;  and  when  the  Americans  rose,  in  177(>,  to  a.ssert  their  independence, 
the  Winnebagoes  sided  with  the  crown.  In  all  local  questions  of  jurisdiction,  such 
as  were  discussed  at  Prairie  du  Cliien,  Green  Bay,  and  Michilimackinac,  they  were 
arrayed,  without  a  single  exce{)tion,  on  the  side  of  the  British  authorities. 

Wh(!n  the  (piestion  of  fealty  a-ssumcd  a  new  vitality,  in  the  war  of  1812,  the 
same  pn'ferences  prevailed.  They  sided  with  the  crown  and  flag  of  the  red  cross 
against  the  Americans.  They  helped  to  defeat  Colonel  Croghan  .at  Michilimackinac, 
Colonel  l)u<lley  at  the  rapids  of  the  Miami,  and  General  Winchester  at  the  river 
lliiisin.  They  were  l)rought  into  the  field  of  action  by  Colonel  Robert  Dixon  and 
Ml  Crawforil,  two  prominent  traders  of  leading  influence,  who  then  resided  at 
Prairie  du  Chien  ami  St.  Peter's.  They  hovered,  with  the  other  hostile  lake  tribes, 
around  the  beleaguered  gariison  of  Detroit,  and  heli)ed  to  render  the  surrounding 
forests  vocal  with  the  war-whoop.  And  they  returned,  in  1815,  like  the  other  tribes, 
to  their  positions  in  the  northwestern  forests  of  Wisconsin,  Upper  Michigan,  Iowa, 
and  Illinois,  rather  chapfallen,  to  reflect  that  they  had  not  in  reality  been  fighting  for 
llieir  own  independence,  but  merely  to  a.xsist  one  white  power  to  sustain  itself  against 
another.  This  was  acknowledged  at  a  public  conference  at  Drummond  Island,  in 
ISK),  by  the  noted  chief  Waul)asha\> 

In  1811  they  had  listened  to  the  false  Shawnee  prophet  of  the  Wabash,  Elkswat- 
tawa,  and  his  more  celebrated  brother  Tecumseb,  who  told  them,  along  with  the  whole 
mass  of  the  Western  Indians,  that  the  time  had  arriveil  for  checking  the  Americans 
in  their  progress,  and  for  regaining,  under  the  Briiih  standard,  their  lost  dominion 
ill  the  West.  They  accordingly  contributed  an  .iiiaries  in  the  war  that  ensued. 
Tliey,  like  the  other  Indians,  reduced  their  po|  ..lation  thereby,  lost  every  promised 
object,  were  wholly  deserted  or  unrecognized  in  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  and  returned 
to  their  homes  gloomy  and  sour-minded.  They  showed  some  insolence  in  the  years 
immediately  following  towards  certain  travellers  in  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  Valleys, 
lloo-choop,  a  stern  chief  at  the  outlet  of  Winnebago  Lake,  assumed  to  be  the  keeper 
of  the  Fox  Ilivcr  Valley,  and  levied  tribute,  in  some  cases,  for  the  privilege  of 
ascent. 


l-i 


1.: 


'!''^M 


37G 


THE  INDIAN  TUIHES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


In  the  autumn  of  1821,  a  young  Winnebago,  called  Ke-taw-kah,  killed  Dr. 
Madison,  of  the  United  States  army,  under  eireumstanees  of  great  cruelty,  and 
Avithout  the  slightest  j)rovoeati()n.  The  nuirderer  was  promptly  arrested,  tri(Hl,  and 
executed.  The  act  was  disavowed  by  the  nation,  and  led  to  no  interruption  of 
j)eaceful  relations. 

For  some  years  after  the  war  of  1812,  in  which  the  political  hopes  of  all  the 
tribes  were  wrecked,  Jhey  were  looked  upon  with  distrust  by  travellers.  But  with 
the  exception  of  the  murder  of  J)r.  Madison,  and  that  of  a  man  named  Ulric, 
at  Green  Hay,  they  j,ave  way  to  few  passionate  outbreaks,  and  preserved  peaceful 
relations  with  the  Ijnited  States.  All  the  lake  tribes  had  been  misled  by  the 
war  of  1812,  supposing  that  its  result,  through  their  adherence  to  the  mother 
country,  would  be  to  restore  to  them  their  hunting-grounds  west  of  the  Allegha- 
nies,  or  at  Iciust  to  set  bounds  to  the  encroachments  of  the  Anuu'icaiis ;  and  when 
the  contrary  result  was  made  known  to  them,  most  of  the  tribes  retired  from  the 
field  of  condict  to  their  native  woods,  as  angry  as  a  bear  that  hius  been  robbed  of  her 
cubs. 

The  Wiiinebagoes  were  not,  tlu'refore,  peculiar  in  their  moodiness  after  this  war. 
The  history  of  their  dealings  witli  the  American  government  is  brief  and  delinite. 
The  fnvt  indication  that  they  could  not  permanently  remain  in  Wisconsin  was  2)er- 
baps  given  l)y  tlie  exju'dition  to  explore  the  country,  in  1820.  They  gazed  at  that 
expedition  silently,  as  if  n<»t  understanding  it.  In  1822  tiiey  were  visited  by  Rev. 
Jedcdiah  Morse,  who  says,  "  They  have  five  villages  on  the  lake,  and  fourteen  on  llock 
lliver.  The  country  has  abundance  of  springs,  small  lakes,  ponds,  and  rivers;  a 
rich  soil,  prodiu-ing  corn  an<l  all  sorts  of  grain.  The  lakes  abound  with  line-llavorcd 
llriii  iish.  The  Indians  are  industrious,  frugal,  and  ujiiperate.  They  cultivate  (;orn, 
potatoes,  pumpkins,  s(|uaslies,  and  beans,  and  are  remarkably  provident.  They 
number  live  hundred  and  eigV'y  souls."  Their  fii-st  treaty  with  the  United  States 
was  signed  .June  ;>,  181(),  abm  .  live  months  after  the  treaty  of  (ilient,  in  which  tlicv 
pledged  themselves  to  peace,  conlirnied  all  j>rior  grants  to  the  IJritish,  French,  and 
Spanish  governments,  and  agreed  to  restore  prisoners.  On  the  lUth  of  August, 
182."),  and  tlie  lltli  of  August,  1827,  tliey  adjusted,  at  Prairie  du  C'liien  and  JJntte 
des  Morts,  with  the  other  trilx's  and  with  the  United  States,  their  territorial  bounda- 
ries, and  also  agreed  upon  t real ie>  of  peace  and  t'riendsliip.  The  lingering  unfriendly 
feeling  j)roduced  by  the  war  of  1812  l»roke  out  at  Prairie  du  Cliien,  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, in  the  summer  of  1827,  when  they  iired  on  a  l>arge  descending  that  stream, 
and  committetl  other  outrages.  This  led  to  the  prompt  movement  of  troops  fniiii 
St.  Louis,  who  checked  the  outbreak;  and  lloo-choop,  tiieir  principal  cliief  in  Fast 
Wisconsin,  with  thirteen  other  prin(i|)al  men,  signed  the  treaty  of  the  11th  of 
August,  1827. 

In  the  year  1828  tlie  discovery  of  valuable  lead-mines  in  their  territory,  north 
of  llock  Iviver,  led  the  inhaliitaiils  of  tiie  tVoiitiers  of  Illinois  t<»  pass  over  and  coiii- 
nience  mining  operations  in  that  ipiarter.  This  |)roducei|  alarms  and  collisions  on 
both  sides,  whi<h  were  settled  liv  the  treat v  of  (ireeii    Hav,  of  August    12,  1828,  liv 


I 


THE   TRIBES. 


377 


which  a  temporary  line  of  boiiiuhiry  was  estiibliKhetl,  and  twenty  tliou.sand  dollai-s 
allowed  the  Indians  for  depredations  made  upon  their  territory. 

On  the  Ist  of  Augunt,  1829,  they  ceded  a  tract  south  of  the  Wisconsin  River, 
including  the  mineral  district,  for  the  consideration  of  five  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
sand dollars,  payable  in  coin,  in  thirty  annual  equal  instalments.  In  addition,  large 
a]»propriations  were  made  for  agricultural  purposes,  the  introduction  of  smiths  and 
agents,  and  the  paymer't  of  claims. 

In  1831-32  they  unwisely  connected  themselves  in  a  clandestine  participation  of 
some  of  the  bands  with  the  schemes  of  Black  Hawk.  The  war  with  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  was  waged  exclusively  on  the  Winnebago  territory  ;  at  its  close  they  ceded  all 
tiieir  renuiining  land  in  Wisconsin  lying  south  of  tht  Wisconsin  and  Fox  Rivers, 
and  accepted  in  exchange  for  it  a  tract  west  of  the  Mississippi,  in  Iowa,  called  the 
Neutral  Ground.  The  sum  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  dollars,  payable 
in  coin,  in  twenty-seven  animal  payments  of  ten  thousand  dollars  each,  was  granted 
to  equalize  the  exchang(>  of  territory.  IJy  this  treaty  stipulations  were  made  for  the 
introduction  of  schools,  the  removal  of  shops  and  agencies,  and  their  advance  in 
agriculture  and  civilization.  The  treaty,  which  was  concluded  at  Rock  Island  on 
the  15th  of  September,  1833,  was  of  great  benefit  to  the  tribe,  who  prospered  and 
increa.sed  in  population  under  its  execution. 

One  of  the  worst  acts  resulting  from  their  connection  with  the  Sac  war,  and  one 
which  stains  their  character  by  its  atrocity,  was  the  assassination  of  Mr.  Pierre 
Pacquetto,  the  interpreter  at  the  agency,  on  the  Wisconsin  I'ortage.  He  was  a  man 
of  Winnebago  lineage,  and  was  reputed  to  be  one  of  the  best  friends  and  counsellors 
of  the  nation.  M«jfe  than  one-fourth  of  the  tribe  was  carried  off  by  smallpox  in 
1830. 

By  a  treaty  conclu<led  on  the  1st  of  Nov  icr,  1837,  they  agreed  to  remove  to 
the  Neutral  Cinmnd,  the  United  States  agreem-  lo  tninsfer  there  the  privileges  for 
tlieir  civilization,  and  to  estal)lish  manual-labor  schools  for  tlit-ir  instruction. 

On  the  L'iJd  of  October,  18!V.),  (iovernor  Lnca.s,  of  I  .\a,  rej)orted  tli.it  an  ex- 
ploring party  of  them  had  arrived  in  that  Territory  in  tiie  .-,iiing  of  tlia,  year,  to 
I  lie  alarm  of  Keokuk,  the  head  Fox  chief,  who  coniplained  of  the  movement  and 
reipiested  that  they  might  be  sent  south  of  the  Missouri.  The  Winml>ag(K's  tb  m- 
selves  disliked  the  removal,  and  could  not  be  induced  to  go  soutli  The  com- 
missioner, in  his  report  of  November  28,  1840,  remarks  that  after  ^ome  of  the 
contiguous  bands  had  piu«sed  over  the  Mississippi,  the  rest  manifested  so  much 
aversion  to  (piitting  their  old  homes  in  Wisconsin  that  the  task  of  inducing  t'lem  to 
migrate  wsus  committed  to  (Jeneral  Atkinson,  who  eventually  extended  tli'  mie  to 
the  sjtring  of  1841.  (Jreut  efforts  were  retjuired  to  overcome  their  rein  ..mce.  In 
September,  1840,  the  aged  chief  Karamanee,  as  well  as  Weenoshaik  and  other  chiefs, 
lUiide  speeches  to  the  agent  strenuously  opposing  it.  At  length  the  government 
(Icterniiiied  to  remove  the  agency,  schools,  and  shops  to  Turkey  River,  and  directed 
tlie  next  annuities  to  be  paid  tiiere.     The  nation  still  dung,  as  with  a  death-grasp,  to 


tiie  hills  and  valleys  of  Wisconsin 


but  tl 


so  steps  were  effective. 


48 


378 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 


Mr.  Lowry,  their  agent,  remarked  in  1842  that  the  depopuhition  from  indulgence, 
drink,  and  disease,  which  had  attended  the  removal,  had  been  very  great  and 
demoralizing.  He  says  that  the  number  of  children  to  each  female  in  the  tribe  did 
i^ot  exceed  the  average  of  one,  and  that  wretchedness  and  bloodshed  were  of  so 
frequent  occurrence  as  to  have  ceiised  to  excite  attention.  Thirty-nine  persons  had 
])erished  in  this  way  in  a  short  time,  and  sometimes  two  or  three  were  stabbed  to 
death  in  a  night. 

Under  this  arrangement  subsequent  removals  were  made  to  the  stipulated  grounds 
in  Iowa,  till  the  whole  tribe  had  migrated.  During  a  period  of  ten  or  twelve  years, 
while  they  occupied  the  Neutral  Ground,  they  appear  to  have  augmented  in  their 
numbers  and  means  and  improved  in  habits.  There  was  a  visible  change  in  habits 
of  cleanliness,  and  their  opinions  respecting  the  subject  of  labor  underwent  a  marked 
change,  so  that  the  females  were  no  longer  expected  or  allowed  alone  to  work  in 
their  fields. 

On  the  13th  of  October,  184G,  in  a  treaty  concluded  with  authorized  delegates, 
the  tribe  ceded  the  "  Neutral  Ground,"  in  Iowa,  and  agreed  to  accept  an  adequate 
tract  of  country  north  of  the  river  St.  Peter's,  on  the  Upper  Mississippi.  By  this 
treaty  one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  dollars  was  to  be  paid  them  in  various 
forms,  of  which  sum  the  interest  of  eighty-five  thousand  dollars,  at  five  per  cent., 
was  directed  to  be  paid  to  them  in  annuities  during  a  period  of  thirty  years. 

In  conformity  with  this  treaty,  the  tribo  was  removed  to  a  tract  on  the  Upper 
Mississippi,  between  the  Watab  and  Crow-Wing  Ilivers ;  which  tract  was  jjurchascd 
from  the  Chippewas  by  the  treaty  of  the  2d  of  August,  1847.  The  seat  of  the 
agency  was  established  at  Long  Prairie  River,  where  buildings  and  sliops  were  put 
up  for  them,  and  extensive  fields  ic'iiecd  in  and  ploughed  by  the  farmers  appointed  to 
teach  them  agriculture.  Some  difiiculties  were  encountered  in  inducing  the  entire 
tribe  to  concentrate  on  this  position,  and  in  overcoming  the  erratic  habits  of  the 
tril)e.  Although  in  no  way  im]tlicated  in  tlic  Sioux  outbreak  in  Minnesota  in  18(i2, 
government  was  compelieil  l)y  tiie  |)()pular  outcry  from  thiit  State  to  remove  tiiom. 
They  were  taken  to  the  ('row  Creek  Agency,  Dakota,  whciu'c,  after  great  hardsiiijis 
and  suffering,  and  to  avoid  starvation,  they  fled  to  tli<'  Omaha  Reservation,  in  Eastern 
Nebraska,  where,  after  six  removes,  they  now  air. 

The  earliest  notice  we  have  of  the  W'iiineba^  |iopulali(in  is  one  found  at  Paris, 
in  a  manuscript  list  of  Indian  tribes  jmpared  liv  M.  C'liaurignerie  in  173(».  He 
puts  the  Puants  or  Winnebagoes  at  eighty  warriors  ;iiid  seven  huiKh'cd  s(»uls. 

It  is  to  l)e  renuMuliercd  in  rclalioii  {>>  tlicse  sniiili  nunihcrs  tiiat  .MIkucz  iiad  re- 
ported them  to  have  been  almost  desti'oyed  by  the  Illinois  at  a  prior  period.  In  tlie 
estimates  published  by  Colonel  IJoucpU't,  in  the  mirrative  of  his  march  west  of  the 
AMeghanies,  in  17()1,  they  are  put  down  at  seven  hundred  warriors, — an  evident 
mistake.  Pike,  the  first  Amerieaii  author  on  th((  subjeet,  estimates  the  entire  Winne- 
bago populatiun  in  ISiKi  at  two  tliousand.  Their  pi'esent  |in|Mil;ition  is  I'oiirteeii 
hundred  iiiid  twenty-nine.  They  liave  the  re|iulatiuii  of  beiii;.,  ilie  most  tn'aelieidiis 
and  C(twar<llv  of  the  Western  tril)es. 


diligence, 
;reat  and 
tribe  did 
ere  of  so 
rsons  had 
tabbed  to 

I  grounds 
Ive  years, 
I  in  their 
in  habits 
a  marked 

0  work  in 

delegates, 

1  adequate 

,     By  this 

in  various 

per  cent., 

rs. 

the  Upper 

purchased 

icat  of  the 

IS  were  put 

ipointed  to 

he  entire 

its  of  the 

in  ISC.-J. 

)ve  tiieni. 

lanlsiiips 

n  EiLstern 

at  Paris, 
7:'.<').      He 

Ills. 

•z  hail  11'- 
lii  tiie 
U'sl  nt'  the 

III   (■vi<lfnt 

If  Wiiiiit'- 
is  foiiitt'tii 

rcacht'iiiiis 


TIIE  TRIBES. 


OMA1IA8. 


379 


The  Omahas  were  formerly  on  the  St.  Peter's  River,  Minnesota,  where  they 
cultivated  the  soil.  Reduced  by  smallpox,  they  abandoned  their  village,  and  wan- 
dered into  Nebraska.  After  a  succession  of  removals,  they  settled  on  their  present 
reservation  in  Ii^cistern  Nebraska  of  about  twenty  square  miles,  where  they  are  largely 
engaged  in  agriculture  and  to  some  extent  in  stock-raising,  and  are  making  good 
j)rogress  in  civilization.  They  number  eleven  hundred  and  twenty,  and  have  lands 
allotted  to  them  in  severalty. 

rONCAS. 

The  Poncas,  originally  of  the  Omaha  tribe,  were  settled  near  the  Red  River  of 
the  North.  Driven  west  by  the  Dakotas,  they  halted  on  the  Ponca  River,  Dakota. 
In  1859  they  ceded  all  their  lands  to  the  United  States,  receiving  in  return  the 
.  promise  of  protection  in  the  possession  of  a  small  tract  reserved,  and  annuities  for 
thirty  years.  They  were  then  placed  on  a  reservation  at  the  mouth  of  the  Niobrara, 
and  had  taken  lands  in  severalty,  when,  in  1877,  they  were  forced  to  give  them  up 
and  remove  to  the  Indian  Territory.  Here  they  suf'ered  from  disease  and  want,  and 
in  1878  a  portion  of  them  made  their  way  back  to  their  old  home.  Public  attention 
having  been  drawn  to  the  wrong  done  these  Indians,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
while  admitting  that  a  serious  mistake  had  been  made,  declared  that  he  was  unable 
to  rectify  it,  and  endeavored  to  prevail  upon  the  Poncius  to  remain  on  the  reservation. 
A  satisfactory  settlement  was  made  August  18,  1881,  when  the  Sioux,  to  whom  the 
Ponca  lands  had  been  transferred,  expressed  their  willingness  to  give  them  to  the 
Poncas.  When  White  Tiiunder,  the  successor  of  Spotted  Tail,  and  spokesman  of 
the  Sioux,  was  asked  by  Secretary  Kirkwood  if  the  Sioux  expected  pay  from  the 
United  States  for  these  lands,  he  drew  himself  up  proudly  and  replied,  "  No,  my 
frii'ud,  that  is  not  what  I  want.  You  told  me  yesterday  that  I  ought  to  have  pity 
upon  these  j)oor  Poncas.  If  I  have  pity  upon  them,  I  am  not  going  to  take  their 
money.     We  give  them  the  land  they  need." 

The  story  of  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  this  tribe  by  the  wretched  mismanagement 
of  the  Indian  Depart'Ment,  and  of  the  j)atien('e  and  fortitude  with  which  they  have 
luirne  the  miseries  and  hard.shij)s  inflictetl  ui)on  them,  has  been  well  and  truly  told 
ill  Mrs.  Jackson's  "A  Century  of  Dishonor." 

lOWAS. 

The  lowas  are  noticed  in  the  earlit'r  French  accounts  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  they  were  known  to  the  early  Spanish  adventurers  who 
visited  the  lower  part  of  that  vaUey.  The  name  "  Ayennes,"  which  appears  in  the 
narrative  of  Caheya  de  Vaca's  wanderings  through  Arkansas,  after  the  unfortunate 
expedition  of  Narvaez,  in  1")27,  may  possibly  be  a  reference  to  them.    Their  history, 


'ill 


I    lir-'i 


380 


Tin:  INDIAN  TRIliES   OP  TIIK   UNITED  STATUS. 


along  with  that  of  the  other  tribes  of  the  Great  Prairie  or  Dakota  group,  assigns 
them  an  origin  in  the  Soutliwest.  The  Freneli  iLsually  eallcd  tlieni  Ayouas  or 
Ajoues, — an  orthography  whieli  very  well  represents  the  correct  sound  of  the  name. 

In  Alccdo's  Spanish  Geography,  under  the  name  of  Ajoues,  they  are  mentioned 
as  a  tribe  of  Louisiana,  for  whose  government  a  garrison  had  been  kept  on  the 
Missouri. 

The  lowas  arc  probably  but  a  remnant  of  a  once  numerous  and  considerable 
nation,  Avhich  has  dwindled  down  to  the  present  few,  and  these  have  lost  much  of 
their  pure  native  character.  As  their  numbers  diminish  before  the  whites,  so  also 
are  their  native  characteristics  destroyed.  Indeed,  they  themselves  complain  that 
they  are  losing  the  great  medicine  of  their  fathers,  that  they  do  not  now  worship  as 
they  once  did,  and  tiiat  much  of  their  history  and  character  is  lost. 

The  earliest  location  to  which  their  traditions  assign  them  is  at  the  junction  of 
Rock  River  with  the  Mississippi.  This  was  probably  in  or  very  near  Winnebago 
territory,  aid  the  correctness  of  their  narrative  is  confirmed  by  the  traditions  of 
several  of  the  Missouri  tribes.  From  this  point  they  migrated  down  the  Mississippi 
to  the  river  Des  Moiiies,  and  fixed  themselves  on  its  south  fork.  They  next  made  an 
extraordinary  migration,  al)andoning  the  Mississippi  and  all  its  upper  tributaries, 
and  Jiscending  the  Missouri  to  a  point  of  land  formed  by  a  small  stream,  on  its  east 
shore,  called  by  the  Indians  Fish  Creek,  which  flows  in  from  the  direction  of,  and 
not  far  from,  the  celebrated  Red  Pipe  Stone  quarry,  now  in  Pipe  Stone  County, 
Minnesota.  They  next  descended  the  ^Missouri  to  the  junction  of  the  Nebraska  or 
Great  Platte  River,  and  .settled  on  the  west  bank,  keeping  the  buffalo  ranges  on  their 
west.  They  next  migrated  still  lower  down  the  Missouri,  and  fixed  themselves  on 
the  head-waters  of  the  Little  Platte  River. 

From  this  location,  when  circumstances  had  rendered  another  change  desirable, 
they  returned  to  the  Mississippi,  and  located  themselves  at  the  mouth  of  Salt  River. 
They  next  ascended  the  Mississippi,  and  settled  on  its  cii-st  bank,  at  the  junction  of  a 
stream  in  the  present  area  of  Illinois.  Their  next  migration  carried  them  still 
higher  on  that  shore,  to  the  junction  of  another  stream,  whicii  is  very  near  their 
original  starting-])oint.  They  receded  again  to  the  south  and  west,  first  fixing  tiieni- 
selves  on  Salt  River,  above  their  prior  site,  and  afterwards  changing  their  location 
to  its  scmrce.  They  then  passed,  evidently  l)y  land,  to  the  higher  forks  of  the 
river  Chariton,  of  Missouri,  and  next  descended  that  stream  to  near  its  mouth.  The 
next  two  migrations  of  this  tribe  were  to  the  west  valley  of  the  (irand  River,  am! 
then  to  its  forks.  Still  continuing  their  general  migrations  to  the  south  and  west, 
they  chose  the  east  bank  of  the  Missouri,  opposite  llie  present  site  of  Fort  Jjcaveii- 
worth,  and  finally  settled  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Missouri,  between  the  mouths  of 
the  Wolf  and  the  Great  Nemaha,  where  they  now  reside. 

Tiiese  migrations  are  deemed  to  be  all  of  modern  date,  not  exceeding  the  period 
to  which  well-known  tradition  could  reach.  Tlii'ir  traditions  do  not,  it  would  seem, 
take  them  itack  to  their  probable  ancient  residence  on  the  Ivower  and  Upper  lowu 
Rivers  and  about  the  region  of  St.  .\iithony's  Falls.     The  migrations  were  [)robalily 


i^a 


&""'• 


THE  TJiJBHS. 


381 


determined  by  the  facility  of  procuring  food,  for  which  they  relied  greatly  on  the 
deer,  elk,  and  buffalo.  As  these  animals  are  given  to  changes  of  locality,  it  is 
probable  they  carried  the  Indians  with  them.  It  is  not  likely  that  their  locations 
were  of  long  continuance  at  any  one  place.  Marquette  found  them,  in  1673,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Dcs  Moines. 

The  lowas  first  entered  into  treaty  relations  with  tlie  United  States  September  16, 
1815.  Their  origiiuil  right  to  the  soil,  with  that  of  all  the  Western  tribes,  is  fully 
acknowledged.  They  have  ceded  considerable  portions  of  territory.  The  tribe 
gives  name  to  one  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  a  territory  of  great  beauty  of  surface 
and  exuberant  fertility,  abounding  in  water-power,  and  possessing  a  fine  climate. 
The  language  of  the  tribe  b.  a  well-marked  dialect  of  the  generic  Dakota  group. 

The  lowas  are  among  themselves,  and  also  among  the  neighboring  tribes,  called 
"  Pa-hu-cha,"  or  "  Dusty-nose."  When  they  separated  from  the  first  Indian  tribe, 
or  family,  to  hunt  game,  their  first  location  was  near  the  mouth  of  a  river,  where 
there  were  large  sand-bars,  from  which  the  wind  blew  quantities  of  sand  or  dust 
upon  their  faces,  and  on  this  account  they  were  called  Dusty-noses.  In  1848,  an 
old  Iowa  Indian  gave  the  following  account  of  his  tribe :  "  About  sixty-six  years 
ago  we  lived  on  a  river  which  runs  from  a  lake  to  the  Mississippi,  from  the  east, 
and  on  the  east  side  of  that  river.  Our  fathers  and  great-fathers  lived  there  for  a 
long  time,  as  long  as  they  could  recollect.  At  that  time  we  had  about  four  hundred 
men  fit  to  go  to  war,  but  we  were  then  small  to  what  we  had  been.  Our  fathers  say 
that  as  long  as  they  can  recollect  we  have  been  diminishing.  We  owned  all  the  land 
east  of  the  Mississippi.  Whatever  ground  we  made  tracks  through,  it  was  ours.  Our 
fathers  saw  white  men  on  the  lakes  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago,  but  we 
do  not  know  where  they  came  from.  About  the  same  time  we  first  got  guns.  We 
were  afraid  of  them  at  first ;  they  seemed  like  the  '  Great  Spirit.'  Our  fathers  also  at 
the  same  time,  for  the  first  time,  received  iron  axes,  hoes,  kettles,  and  woollen  bh'nk- 
eta.  We,  the  old  men  of  our  nation,  first  saw  white  men  between  forty  and  fifty  years 
ago,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri." 

The  notion  of  their  having  descended  from  animals  seems  to  prevail ;  and  they 
say  that  all  the  tribes  of  Indians  were  originally  one,  and  that  to  obtain  subsistence 
they  scattered  in  families,  and  in  this  way  became  distinct  tribes.  The  place  where 
they  lived,  when  all  in  one  tribe,  was  on  an  island,  or  at  least  across  a  large  water, 
t(»wards  the  east  or  sunrise.  They  crossed  this  water  by  skin  canoes,  and  by  swim- 
ming. How  long  they  were  in  crossing,  or  whether  the  water  was  salt  or  fresh,  they 
do  not  know.     No  event  of  antiipiity  worthy  of  note  is  remembered  by  them. 

The  lowas,  one  hundred  and  seventy-six  in  number,  occupy  a  small  reservation 
in  Northeiistcrn  Kansas  and  Southeastern  Nebraska,  contiguous  to  that  of  the  Bacand 
Fox  tribes,  and  containing  about  twenty-two  thousand  acres  of  fine  tarnung  and 
grazing  land.  They  live  in  houses  furnished  with  many  of  the  comforts  and  conve- 
niences of  civilized  life,  have  a  school  in  successful  openition,  cultivate  fiirms  and 
orchards,  and  are  self-supporting.  They  are  temi)erate,  frugal,  and  industrious. 
During  the  late  rebellion  they  fiiniislied  ti  number  of  soldiers  to  the  Union  army. 


■-;»,. 


*i        ' 


H  ^H 


:  :! 


i! 


382 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATEH. 


V»    '!■ 


OSAOE8. 

The  Osages  were  once  among  the  most  numerous  and  warlike  nations  on  this 
continent,  with  a  domain  extending  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Missouri  Kiver,  and  from 
the  Mississippi  to  the  llocky  Mountains.  They  now  own  two  thousand  two  hundred 
and  ninety-seven  square  miles  in  the  Indian  Territory,  west  of  the  Cherokees  and 
north  of  the  Creek  country.  They  number  about  two  thousand.  This  small  rem- 
nant is  all  that  is  left  of  a  heroic  race  that  once  held  sway  over  all  this  region,  and 
which  has  been  wasted  by  war  and  famine.  They  were  allies  of  the  French,  but 
during  the  present  century  they  have  been  steadfast  in  frientbhip  to  the  Americans, 
notwithstanding  the  many  and  grievous  wrongs  inflicted  upon  them.  Strange  as  it 
may  seem,  one  great  cause  of  their  decline  has  been  this  very  fidelity  to  their  pledges. 
White  men  have  stolen  their  horses,  driven  them  from  their  homes,  and  inflicted 
upon  them  almost  every  form  of  outrage  and  wrong,  unchecked  by  the  government 
and  unpunished.  While  government  failed  to  afford  them  the  protection  it  guaran- 
teed them  by  treaty,  their  fidelity  and  submissiveness  brought  upon  them  the  hos- 
tility of  the  wild  tribes,  who  also  stole  their  horses,  and  drove  them  from  their 
hunting-grounds,  depriving  them  of  their  only  means  of  subsistence,  and  entailing 
upon  them  suffering,  starvation,  and  death. ^  Thus  the  exercise  of  the  highest  virtue 
placed  this  people  between  the  upper  and  the  nether  millstone. 

They  are  richly  endowed  by  nature,  physically  and  morally.  Their  Kansas 
Reservation,  embracing  eight  million  acres  of  valuable  land,  offered  a  strong  tempta- 
tion to  land-grabbers,  and  in  1871  it  wa.s  disposed  of  at  one  dollar  and  twenty-five 
cents  per  acre,  and  the  tribe  moved  to  its  present  reservation.  Though  a  large 
number  of  them  have  been  taught  to  read  and  write,  they  cling  tenaciously  to  their 
old  customs  and  religion,  and  wear  the  blanket.  Their  wealth  consists  in  horses  (of 
which  they  own  not  less  than  twelve  thousand)  and  in  cattle.  The  Quapaws,  nearly 
two  hundred  in  number,  are  with  the  Osages.  They  are  semi-civilized,  though  too 
j)Oor  to  dress  as  citizens.  The  Kuw  (or  Kansas)  tribe  removed  to  the  Osage  Agency 
in  1872.  They  are  an  offshoot  from  this  tribe,  and  were  driven  from  their  former 
home  in  Missouri  by  the  Dakotas.  They  number  a  little  over  three  hundred,  and 
are  rajjidly  becoming  civilized. 


IKOQUOIS. 

The  Iroquois,  or  Six  Nations,  were  the  foremost  among  the  aborigines  of  this 
continent  in  war,  eloquence,  and  policy.  This  was  owing  in  part  to  their  geograph- 
ical position,  their  political  organization,  and  their  system  of  totemship.  Their 
confederacy  of  eight  totemic  clans  dates  back  a  century  before  the  arrival  of  the  Dutch. 
They  had  extensive  fortifications,  which  Denonville,  in  1G87,  and  Frontenac,  in 
1090,  levelled  with  the  earth.  They  tilled  the  soil,  raising  an  abundance  of  vege- 
tables and  immense  fields  of  maize.    They  dwelt  in  well-constructed  villages  the 


THE  TRIBES. 


383 


most  of  the  time,  ai.d  yet  were  more  loose  in  the  observance  of  social  ties  than  the 
nomadic  tribes  of  the  North.  They  were  more  intelligent  and  less  tractable  than 
other  tribes.  Their  coarse  pottery  and  their  spear-  and  arrow-heads  of  stone  exhibit 
no  superiority  over  those  of  many  other  tribes.  Besides  driving  the  Hurons  from 
their  native  seats,  they  subdued  the  Lenape,  the  leading  Algonkin  tribe  (about 
1G50),  and  expelled  the  Ottawiis  from  the  borders  of  the  river  Ottawa.  Their 
conquests  extended  to  every  adjacent  region,  and  their  war-parties  carried  terror  even 
to  the  walls  of  Quebec.  Their  losses  were  made  up  by  their  custom  of  adopting  a 
portion  of  their  captives  as  members  of  their  tribes. 

Of  the  several  governments  existing  in  America  when  it  was  discovered  and 
settled,  none  had  a  system  which  was  at  all  comparable  for  excellence  and  stability 
with  the  confederacy  of  the  Iroquois.  The  tribes  or  cantons  which  originally  com- 
posed it  were  alfdiatcd,  not  very  closely,  perhaps,  or  permanently,  by  history ;  though 
having  the  same  language.  Arrested  in  their  wanderings,  they  became  fixed  to  the 
soil.  They  still  pursued  war  and  hunting ;  but  the  field  for  war  was  external,  and 
they  returned  in  triumph  to  their  respective  cantons  and  villages,  where  their  fami- 
lies pursued  agriculture.  A  fixity  of  location,  as  in  the  two  celebrated  instances  of 
Mexico  and  Peru,  was  the  first  fruit-bearing  point  in  their  social  and  political  advance. 
The  next  was  the  absolute  independence  of  the  cantons.  Each  canton  was,  in  fact, 
a  military  federal  republic,  in  the  councils  of  which  the  warriors  were  the  represen- 
tatives, and  they  were  bound  together  by  a  general  cordon  of  cantons.  Unanimity 
was  urged  in  all  public  questions  by  every  consideration  of  interest  and  honor. 
But  it  is  very  clear,  as  resulting  from  the  absolute  independence  of  the  confederates, 
that  each  canton  had  a  power  very  like  that  described  by  the  Roman  term  veto  ;  for 
it  could  dissent  from  the  central  proceedings  without  being  called  in  question.  Its 
quota  of  men  was  freely  offered  or  refused.  Contributions  for  a  central  government 
there  were  none.  A  high  notion  of  military  glory  existed,  but  the  voluntary  prin- 
ciple supported  all  the  common  interests. 

While  Mexico  and  Peru  arc  celebrated  iis  world-renowned  monarchies,  exhibiting 
the  highest  efforts  of  the  Indian  mind  in  architecture,  arts,  and  knowledge  of  the 
solar  recessions,  and  of  the  literature  of  pictographic  records,  their  people  are 
believed  to  have  fallen  far  short  in  power  of  thought  and  forecast,  and  in  public 
spirit,  to  what  we  see  exhibited  at  the  same  era,  and  for  a  century  and  a  half  later, 
in  the  Iroquois  rej)ublic,  a  confederacy  of  bold  tribes,  which  guaranteed  to  each 
nation,  while  conceding  general  power,  a  tribal  or  cantonal  independence  and  sover- 
eignty, and  at  the  same  time  gave  to  each  man  and  warrior  his  equal  rights.  This 
is  in  some  sense  a  solution  of  the  great  political  problem  which  has  since  been  solved 
more  completely  by  the  American  government,  though  not  more  perfectly,  perhaps, 
80  far  as  equal  })crsonal  rights  and  a  jealousy  of  hereditary  and  unjust  jirivilegns  are 
concerned. 

It  is  a  memorable  fact  that  the  Iroquois  were  so  strongly  impressed  with  the 
wisdom  of  the  working  of  their  system  of  confederation  that  they  publicly  recom- 
mended a  similar  union  to  the  British  colonies.     In  the  important  conferences  at 


II  i 


II  i 


384 


THE  INDIAN  TltlttES  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


it 


ill- 


Liincnster,  in  1744,  Canasaiitogo,  a  respected  sachem,  expressed  this  view  to  the 
commisnioners  of  Pennsylvania,  Virjjinia,  and  Maryland.  "Onr  wise  forefathers," 
he  said,  "  estahlished  union  and  amity  between  the  Five  Nations,  This  has  rp'ide  us 
formidable.  This  has  given  us  great  weight  and  authority  with  our  neighboring 
nations.  We  are  a  powerful  confederacy,  and  by  observing  the  same  methods  our 
wise  forefathers  have  taken,  you  will  acquire  fresh  strength  and  power.  Therefore 
I  counsel  you,  whatever  befalls  you,  never  to  fall  out  with  one  another." 

"The  Five  Nations,"  observes  Golden,  in  1747,  "  (iw  their  name  denotes,)  consist 
of  so  many  tribes  or  nations,  joined  together  by  a  league  or  confederacy,  like  the 
United  Provinces,  and  without  any  superiority  of  the  one  over  the  other.  This 
union  has  continued  so  long  that  the  Christians  know  nothing  of  the  original  of  it. 
The  people  in  it  are  known  to  the  English  under  the  names  of  Mohawks,  Oneydoes, 
Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and  Sennekas. 

"Each  of  these  nations  is  again  divided  into  three  tribes  or  families,  who  distin- 
guish themselves  by  three  different  arms  or  ensigns, — the  tortoise,  the  bear,  and  the 
wolf;  and  the  sachems,  or  old  men  of  these  families,  put  this  ensign  or  mark  of  their 
family  to  every  public  paper  when  they  sign  it. 

"  Each  of  these  nations  is  an  absolute  republic  by  itself,  and  every  castle  in  each 
nation  makes  an  independent  republic,  and  is  governed  in  all  public  affairs  by  its 
own  sachems  or  old  men.  The  authority, of  these  rulers  is  gained  by,  and  consists 
wholly  in,  the  opinion  the  rest  of  the  nation  have  of  their  wisdom  and  integrity. 
They  never  execute  their  resolutions  by  force  upon  any  of  their  people.  Honor  and 
esteem  are  their  principal  rewards,  as  shame  and  being  despised  their  punishments. 
They  have  certain  customs  which  they  observe  in  their  public  transactions  with  other 
nations,  and  in  their  private  affairs  among  themselves,  which  it  is  scandalous  for  any 
one  among  them  not  to  observe ;  and  these  always  draw  after  them  either  public 
or  private  resentment  whenever  they  arc  broke.  Their  leaders  and  captains  in  like 
manner  obtain  their  authority  by  the  general  opinion  of  their  courage  and  conduct, 
and  lose  it  by  a  failure  in  those  virtues. 

"Their  gi'cat  men,  both  sachems  and  captains,  are  generally  poorer  than  the 
common  people ;  for  they  affect  to  give  away  and  distribute  all  tiie  presents  or 
plunder  they  get  in  their  treaties  or  in  war,  so  as  to  leave  nothing  to  themselves. 
There  is  not  a  man  in  the  magistracy  of  the  Five  Nations  who  has  gained  his  office 
otherwise  than  by  merit ;  there  is  not  the  least  salary  or  any  sort  of  profit  annexed 
to  any  office,  to  tempt  the  covetous  and  sordid;  but, on  the  contrary, every  unworthy 
action  is  unavoidably  attended  with  the  forfeiture  of  their  commission ;  for  their 
authority  is  only  the  esteem  of  the  people,  and  ceases  the  moment  tiiat  cstei'iu  is  lost. 
Here  we  see  the  natural  origin  of  all  power  and  authority  among  a  free  people,  and 
whatever  artificial  power  or  sovereignty  any  man  nuiy  have  accjuired  by  the  laws  and 
constitution  of  a  country,  his  real  power  will  be  either  nnich  greater  or  less  in  pro- 
portion to  the  esteem  the  people  have  for  hini. 

"Tiie  Five  Nations  think  themselves  by  nature  superior  to  the  rest  of  mankind, 
and  t^all  themselves  Ongue-honwe, — that  is,  men  surpa.ssing  all  others.     This  opinion, 


ismutm^aaaB^^i^ 


^jj^gjgjB 


THE   TRIBES. 


386 


which  they  take  care  to  cultivate  and  instil  into  their  children,  gives  them  that 
courage  which  \\m  been  ho  terrible  to  all  the  nations  of  North  America ;  and  they 
have  taken  such  care  to  impress  the  same  opinion  of  their  people  on  all  their  neigh- 
Iwrs  that  they  on  all  occlusions  yield  the  most  submissive  obedience  to  them.  I  have 
been  told  by  old  men  in  New  England  who  remembered  the  time  when  the  Mohawks 
made  war  on  their  Indians,  that  (is  soon  as  a  single  Mohawk  was  discovered  in  the 
country,  their  Indians  raised  a  cry  from  hill  to  hill,  a  Mohawk  !  a  Mohawk  I  upon 
which  they  all  fled  like  sheep  before  wolves,  without  attempting  to  make  the  least 
resistance,  whatever  oddn  were  on  their  side.  The  poor  New  England  Indians  im- 
nuidiately  ran  to  the  Christian  houses,  and  the  Mohawks  often  pursued  them  so 
closely  that  they  entered  along  with  them,  and  knocked  their  brains  out  in  the 
presence  of  the  people  of  the  house ;  but  if  the  family  attempted  to  shut  the  door, 
they  never  tried  to  force  it,  and  on  no  occasion  did  any  injury  to  the  Christians. 
All  the  nations  round  them  have  for  many  years  entirely  submitted  to  them,  and 
pay  a  yearly  tribute  to  them  in  wampum ; '  they  dare  neither  make  war  nor  peace 
without  the  consent  of  the  Mohawks.  Two  old  men  commonly  go  about  every  year 
or  two  to  receive  this  tribute ;  and  I  have  often  had  opportunity  to  observe  what 
anxiety  the  poor  Indians  were  under  while  these  two  old  men  remained  in  that  part 
of  the  country  where  I  was. 

"  An  old  Mohawk  sachem,  in  a  poor  blanket  and  a  dirty  shirt,  may  be  seen 
issuing  his  orders  with  as  arbitrary  an  authority  as  a  Roman  dictator.  It  is  not  for 
the  sake  of  tribute,  however,  that  they  make  war,  but  from  the  notions  of  glory 
which  they  have  ever  most  strongly  imprinted  on  their  minds ;  and  the  farther  they 
go  to  seek  an  enemy,  the  grojiter  glory  they  think  they  gain.  There  cannot,  I  think, 
be  a  greater  or  a  stronger  instance  than  this,  how  much  the  sentiments  impressed 
ujX)n  a  peojtle's  mind  conduce  to  their  grandeur,  or  one  that  more  verifies  a  saying 
often  to  be  met  with,  though  but  too  little  minded,  that  it  is  in  the  ix)wer  of  the 
rulers  of  a  people  to  make  them  either  great  or  little ;  for  by  inculcating  only  the 
notions  of  honor  and  virtue,  or  those  of  luxury  and  riches,  the  people  in  a  little  time 
will  soon  become  such  as  their  rulers  desire.  The  Five  Nations,  in  their  love  of 
liberty  and  of  their  country,  in  their  bravery  in  battle,  and  their  constancy  in  en- 
during torment-s,  equal  the  fortitude  of  tiie  most  renowned  Romans.  I  shall  finish 
their  general  character  by  what  an  Cu'imy,  a  Frenchman,  says  of  them, — Monsieur 
De  la  Poterie,  in  his  History  oi  North  America.  'When  we  speak,'  says  he,  'of 
the  Five  Nations,  in  France,  they  are  thought  by  a  common  mistake  to  be  mere 
barbarians,  always  thirsting  after  human  blood ;  but  their  true  character  is  very 
different.     They  are,  indeed,  the  fiercest  and  most   formidable   people  in  North 


'  "  Wampum  is  the  current  niuncy  among  the  Indinns.  It  is  of  tiro  sorts,  white  and  purple ;  the  white 
is  worked  out  ol"  the  inside  of  the  jrrcat  periwinkle-shell  into  the  form  of  a  bead,  and  perforated  to  string  on 
leather ;  the  purple  is  worked  out  of  the  inside  of  the  clam-shell ;  they  are  wove  as  broad  as  one's  hand,  and 
about  two  feet  long ;  these  they  call  belts,  and  give  and  receive  at  their  treaties  as  the  seals  of  friendship ; 
fur  lesser  matters  a  single  string  is  given.  Every  bend  is  of  a  known  value,  and  a  belt  of  a  less  number  ia 
made  to  equal  one  of  a  greater  by  so  many  as  is  wanting  faisteiiod  tu  the  belt  by  a  string." 

4S) 


m 


380 


TlfE  INDIAN  TRIIiKS   OF   THE   UNITKD  STATES. 


Amoricii,  and  at  tlie  Hamc  time  arc  iw  politic  and  jiidicMoiiH  iw  well  can  Iw  concclvctd; 
and  this  appears  from  the  management  of  all  the  atVairs  which  they  transact,  not 
only  with  tho  French  and  English,  hut  Mkuwisu  with  almost  all  the  Indian  natiouu 
of  this  viust  continent.' 

"  Tiie  matters  of  consequence  which  concern  all  their  nations  are  transacted  in  a 
general  meeting  of  sachems  of  each  nation.  These  conventions  are  commonly  held 
at  Onondaga,  which  is  nearly  the  centre  of  their  country ;  but  they  have  fixed  on 
Albany  for  the  place  of  treating  with  the  British  colonics.  They  strictly  follow  one 
maxim,  formerly  used  by  the  Romans  to  increase  their  strength, — that  is,  they  en- 
courage the  people  of  other  nations  to  incorporate  with  them ;  and  when  they  have 
subdued  any  people,  after  they  have  satiated  their  revenge  by  some  cruel  examples, 
they  adopt  the  rest  of  their  captives;  who,  if  they  behave  well,  l)ccomc  e<jually 
esteemed  with  their  own  people,  so  that  some  of  their  captives  have  afterwarils  become 
their  greati*8t  sachems  and  captains.  The  Tuskaroras,  afUir  the  war  they  had  with 
the  jieople  of  Carolina,  iled  to  the  Five  Nations,  anil  are  now  incorporated  with 
them  ;  so  that  they  now  properly,  indeed,  consist  of  six  nations,  though  they  still 
retain  the  old  name  of  the  Five  Nations  among  the  English.  The  Cowetas,  also,  or 
Creek  Indians,  are  in  the  same  friendship  with  them.  The  Tuskaroras,  since  they 
came  under  the  province  of  New  York,  behave  themselvi's  well,  and  remain  peaceable 
and  (piict ;  and  by  this  may  be  seen  the  advantage  of  using  the  Indians  well,  and  I 
believe  if  they  were  still  better  used  (as  tliere  is  room  enough  to  do  it)  they  would 
be  proportionately  useful  to  us." 

One  of  their  most  remarkable  customs,  and  that  which  has  perplexed  the  whites 
most  to  understand,  was  their  descent  of  chiefs.  And  it  is  this  trait  that,  more  fully 
than  any  other,  mai'ked  their  jealousy  of  a  privileged  chuss  in  their  government. 
The  chief,  who  was  never  any  more  than  the  exponent  of  the  popular  will  of  the  war- 
riors, had  only  a  life-tenure.  The  oflice  died  with  the  man.  The  descent  was  strictly 
in  the  female  line.  It  Wiw  not  the  wife,  but  the  sister  next  in  birth  to  the  chief,  who 
transmitted  the  chieftainship.  Her  eldest  male  issue  was  the  j)rt!snmptive  chief  of 
the  band,  but  even  this  inheritance  reipiired  the  ratilication  of  the  popular  voice, 
and  it  was  necessary  that  a  public  council  should  yield  their  assent.  Crown  or  badge 
of  office  there  was  none.  The  simple  garb  of  his  ancestors  marked  the  incumbent. 
If  any  diilerence  was  perceivable,  it  was  rather  in  the  neglect  of  everything  like 
decoration.  Feathers  of  honor  he  might  wear,  if  these  were  the  rewards  of  his 
bravery.  lint  they  were  the  every-ilay  right  of  the  warrior,  and  not  the  honor  of 
the  rakowana,  chief,  or  sachem.  At  every  mutation  by  the  death  of  a  chief,  the 
hereditary  line  was  broken,  and  returned  into  the  body  of  the  trilx«.  There  was, 
therefore,  no  tendency  to  the  aristocratic  feature  of  feudalism,  but  the  utmo.st  jealousy 
to  guard  against  it.  It  w.ts  only  in  the  totemic  tie  that  the  descent  by  blfX)d-relatioii- 
ship  was  recognized  and  carried  the  witiK>8s  in  itself,  and  this  waa  as  strong  in  the 
female  as  in  the  male.  Thus,  a  turtle  totem  denoted  the  brother  or  sister  of  a  turtle 
family,  a  wolf  totem  of  the  wolf  family,  a  Ix^ar  totem  of  the  In'ar  family,  etc.  The 
appeal  to  tlic  totem  wa.s  a  testimony  uiKiuestioned.     This  tutemic  tie  wa.s  a  jioint  of 


srf 


SB 


THE  TRIBES. 


387 


proud  and  Htoicul  honor,  iiiul  the  plodgo  of  a  totem  wiw  a  tcHtinumy  never  doubted, 
whether  in  the  Bociiil  circhi  or  wij^wam,  the  gnviul  council,  or  in  lifc'H  liiHt  extremity 
at  the  stake,  and  a  warrior's  toten  ^a«  recorded  by  a  representative  device  at  the 
grave. 

The  history  of  the  worhl  shows  that  it  is  one  of  the  tendencies  of  bravery  to 
cause  woman  to  bti  respected  and  to  assui  ic  her  proper  ranlc  and  inlhience  in  society. 
Tiiis  was  striltingly  nuuiifcHted  in  the  iiistory  of  the  Inniuois.  Tiiey  are  the  only 
tribes  in  America,  North  or  Houth,  so  far  as  we  have  any  accounts,  who  gave  to 
woman  a  jiower  in  political  deliberations.  The  Inxpiois  matrons  had  their  r('[)re8cn- 
t^itives  in  the  public  councils,  and  they  exercised  a  sort  of  veto  power  in  the  important 
question  of  the  declaration  of  war.  They  had  the  right  also  to  interpose  in  bringing 
about  a  peace.  It  did  not  compromise  the  war  policy  of  the  cantons  if  the  body  of 
the  matrons  expressed  a  decision  in  favor  of  peace.  This  was  an  extraordinary  feature 
in  a  government  organized  on  the  war  principle,  and  among  a  race  which,  both  in  the 
domestic  circle  and  in  the  corn-field,  laid  heavy  burdens  on  their  fenudes. 

To  such  a  pitch  of  power  had  the  Iroquois  confederacy  reached  on  the  discovery 
of  what  is  now  New  York,  in  1G()9,  that  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  if  the  arrival 
of  the  Europeans  had  been  delayed  a  century  later,  the  Five  Nations  would  have 
absorbed  all  the  tribes  between  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio. 
Such  a  j)roceHs  of  extension  was  in  rapid  progress  when  they  were  first  supplied  with 
fire-arms  by  the  Northern  colonists ;  and  as  fire-arms  were  furnished  them  long  before 
the  Western  tribes  received  such  arms,  the  Iroquois  supremacy  was  for  a  long  time 
promoted  by  this  circumstance. 

In  a  map  prefixed  to  Mr.  Colden's  History,  published  in  1747,  the  most  southerly 
and  wi'stwardly  points  of  the  Iro<]uois  infiuence  are  placed  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Wabash,  and  along  the  eiustern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan.  In  the  elaborate  map  of 
Lewis  Evans,  published  by  Benjamin  Franklin  in  1755,  the  country  subject  to  their 
sway  is  called  "  Aquanishuonig,"  and  reaches  from  the  Wabash  to  the  St.  Lawrence, 
including  both  sides  of  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario.  It  extends  to  the  source  of  the 
Illinois  and  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  and  tradition  denotes  that  the  Five  Nations 
extended  their  warlike  incui"sions  even  to  the  entrance  of  Lake  Superior.  Not  that 
they  had  permanently  conquered  all  this  region,  but  they  had  rendered  their  name 
a  terror  to  the  tribes  who  lived  fiir  west  as  well  as  east  of  the  AUeghanies.  They 
drove  the  Eries  from  the  Ohio  Valley  and  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  together 
with  their  allies,  the  so-called  Neuter  Nation  of  ("anadii.  They  gave  the  Missis-sagies 
a  location  there,  and  reserved  most  of  it  tus  hunting-grounds.  Not  a  village  was 
siiilered  permanently  to  exist  along  the  Ohio  from  the  M(mongahela  to  the  Kentucky 
River,  a  territory  which  they  ceded  to  Great  Britain.  They  pushed  their  forays 
along  the  entire  range  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  through  Pennsylvania,  Mary- 
land, West  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina,  to  Fort  Hill,  in  South  Carolina,  the  resi- 
dence of  the  late  Hon.  John  C.  Calhoun,  which  wsls  a  Seneca  station,  waging  the 
most  inveterate  war  against  the  Catawbas  and  Cherokees.  According  to  the  tables 
of  Mr.  Jefferson,  the    kindred  tribes,  called  Nottoways,  Meherrins,  and  Totelos, 


i!:, 


!V«a 


';! 


388 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF    I'lIfJ   UNITED  STATES. 


occupied  tlio  luomituinoua  districls  of  Virginia;  mulcr  tho  name  of  Tuscaroras  tliey 
spread  over  the  interior  of  Mortli  Carolina.  Tlie  pride  and  arrogance  with  which 
they  addressed  the  nations  whom  tht^y  had  sul)jiigaicd  east  of  the  mountains,  particii- 
hirly  on  the  waters  of  the  Sustpiehanna  and  Dilaware,  have  no  paraUel  in  history. 
"  Cousins,"  said  Canassatego,  achlressing  the  once  proud  Lenni-Lenape,  at  the  treaty 
of  Lancaster,  in  1744,  "let  this  helt  of  wampum  serve  to  chiustise  you.  You  ought 
to  he  taken  hy  the  hair  of  the  head  and  sliaken  sevcu'cly  till  you  recover  your  senses 
and  heconie  soher.  You  don't  ''now  on  what  ground  you  stand,  nor  what  you  are 
doing.  Our  brother  Onas's' cause  is  very  just  and  plain,  and  his  intentions  are  to 
preserve  friendship.  On  the  other  hand,  your  cause  is  had,  and  your  hearts  far  from 
being  uj)right.  You  are  nudicioi'  dy  bent  on  breaking  the  chain  of  friendship  with 
our  brother  Onaa  and  liis  people.  We  have  seen  with  our  eyes  u  deed  signed  by 
nine  of  your  iiieestors,  above  flt^y  years  ago,  for  this  very  land,  and  a  release  signed 
not  many  years  since  by  some  of  yourselves  and  chiefs  now  living,  to  the  number 
of  fifteen  or  upwards.  Jiut  how  came  you  to  take  upon  you  to  sell  land  at  all  ?  We 
conquered  you  ;  we  made  women  of  you  !  You  know  you  are  women,  and  can  no 
more  sell  land  than  women  ;  nor  is  it  fit  you  should  have  the  power  of  selling  land, 
since  you  would  abuse  it.  This  land  tiiat  you  claim  is  gone  thn/Ugii  your  guts! 
You  have  been  furnished  with  clothes,  meat,  and  drink  by  the  goods  paid  you  for  it ; 
and  now  you  want  it  again,  like  children  a?  you  are!  Ihit  what  makes  you  sell  land 
in  the  dark?  Did  you  ever  tell  us  that  you  had  sold  this  land?  Did  we  v\vr 
receive  any  i)art — even  the  v  due  of  a  pipe-shank — from  you  for  it?  .  .  .  You  hav(( 
told  us  a  blind  story!  .  .  .  You  act  a  dishoiK  <t  part,  not  only  in  this,  but  oilier 
matters.  Your  ears  are  ever  open  to  slanderous  reports  about  our  brethren  !  Ymi 
receive  fluin  with  as  much  greediness  as  lewd  women  receive  tiie  embraces  of  bad 
men  ;  >.iid  i'or  all  these  iciisons  we  charge  you  to  remove  instantly, — we  don't  give  you 
the  liberty  to  think  about  it.  You  are  women  ;  take  tlu^  advice  of  a  wise  man,  aiul 
n'lriove  immediately.  You  may  return  to  the  other  side  of  the  Delaware,  where  you 
came  from.  lUit  we  do  not  know  whether,  considering  how  ycm  have  demeaned 
yourselves,  you  will  be  permitted  to  live  there;  or  whether  you  have  not  swallowed 
that  land  down  your  throats  as  well  iis  the  land  on  this  side.  We,  therefore,  assign 
you  two  places  lo  go  to,  either  to  Wyoming  or  Shamokin  ;  you  may  go  to  either  of 
these  places,  and  then  we  shall  have  you  more  under  our  own  eye,  and  see  how  you 
behave.  Don't  deliberate;  but  remove  away,  and  take  this  lielt  of  wampum."  'I'liis 
is  the  language  of  a  coiKjueror  Hushed  with  success  and  conscious  of  power.  The  fact 
that  the  mandate  was  immediately  oinyed  is  a  suflicient  proof  of  the  existence  of  this 
jiower.     The  Delawares  went  to  Shamokin. 

After  a  pause,  ihiring  which  the  speech  was  tian  lated  into  the  Iroquois  and  Del- 
aware languages,  ( 'ani'.ssalego  resumed  his  speech,  and,  taking  a  string  of  waiiipimi 
in  his  hand,  added  further,  "  After  our  just  reproof  and  absolute  order  to  de|iari 
from  the  land,  you  are  now  to  take  notice  of  what  we  iiave  In rt her  to  say  to  yon. 


(JoviTiKir  IVmi. 


■dSBUMiaSw^ 


i| 


rill-J   TlilBKS. 


389 


This  string  of  wampum  serves  to  forhid  you,  your  children,  and  your  grandchildren, 
to  the  latest  posterity  forever,  meddling  in  land  iiHiiirs;  neither  you,  nor  any  who  shall 
descend  from  you,  are  ever  hereafter  to  presume  to  sell  any  land.  For  which  purpose 
you  are  to  preserve  this  string,  in  memory  of  what  your  uncles  have  this  day  given 
you  in  charge.  We  have  some  other  husiness  to  transact  with  our  brethren,  and 
therefore  (hfpart  the  councii,  and  consider  what  hius  been  said  to  you." 

8uch  reproa(rhfu'i  language  was  not  often  heard  in  the  Inxpiois  councils.  It 
renunds  one  o*"  the  ironical  speech  of  (jlarangula  to  the  Governor-(jeneral  of  Canada 
on  the  failure  of  his  vaunted  expedition  to  the  Onondaga  country.  They  always 
deliberated  with  the  utmost  calmness,  and  uttered  their  opinions  ami  sentiments  with 
emphasis  and  gesture,  but  in  language  lofty  and  dignilied.  That  they  were  some- 
times pathetic  is  proved  by  the  speech  of  the  Cayuga  chief  Logan,  the  son  of 
Shikellanius. 

The  Oneida  sachem  Skenand<jah  electrified  the  community,  after  a  hundred  years 
had  cast  tlieir  frosts  around  his  majestic  brow,  by  views  of  the  tenure  and  destinies 
of  life,  which  were  not  unworthy  of  the  lips  of  Job. 

For  readiness  to  i)erceive  the  true  position  of  the  red  race  as  civilization  gathered 
around  them,  curtailed  their  hunting-grounds,  and  hemmed  in  their  i)atli  in  vari- 
ous ways, — for  (iuic'.:ness  of  appr(>hension,  breadth  of  forecast,  and  appositeness  and 
sharpness  (»f  reply, — no  other  representative  of  the  tribes  of  North  America  has 
e(p.ialled  the  Seneca  orator  Ruil  .Jacket,  or  Sagoyewatlia.  Many  white  peoph  of 
enlarged  and  cultivated  minds  listened  with  admiration  to  \\\a  manly  and  eloquent 
orations. 

Such  wi're  the  Ircxpiois ;  and  if  this  celebrated  league  had  done  nothing  else  to 
prove  their  capacities  ;us  thinking  men,  the  instances  cited  would  justify  us  in  pro- 
nouncing them  to  present  high  (pialities  of  mind. 

One  feature  of  their  league  resembles  strongly  the  system  of  the  United  States. 
Tills  is  the  principle  of  its  extension.  Every  new  canton  which  was  added  to  the 
original  Mohawk  league  augmented  its  strength  and  durability.  Wlicii,  after  long 
experience  of  the  working  of  the  league,  the  live  cantons  admitted  a  sixth,  in  the 
Tiiscarorius,  they  were  still  more  formidable  to  the  surrounding  nations.  This  was  in 
1712.  Eleven  years  afterwards,  in  a  full  council  at  All)any,  they  received  the 
seventh  nation,  in  the  Necariages  of  Michilimackiiiac  and  Lake  Huron,  a  peojile  from 
whom  they  had  been  estranged  since  the  first  settlement  of  Lower  Canada.  They 
also  received  the  Mississagies  into  their  league,  making  the  eighth  nation.  This  was 
a  people  of  iiv»  castles  and  eight  hundred  and  lil'ty  men.  They  were  Algonkins,  but 
faitht'ully  adhere<l  to  tiie  confederacy,  and  fought  with  them  against  their  enemies  to 
the  end.'  Tiiey  lli-st  lived,  according  to  Cusic,  about  the  Niagara  River,  but  moved 
north,  occupying  the  region  near  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario,  in  Canada,  where  their 
tlescendants  still  live.     The  lro(iuois  also  brought  oil'  and  adopted  the  Totelos,  from 


■     1 1 

;?    i\ 


'  Tbo  lutu  Mr.  Oiiilutiii  i.s  wliolly  iiiistakoii  in  cliLs-siiying  tliu  Mi)<.si>8agiu!i  &*  Iruqiuiis,  :is  lio  dues  in  the 
Kcciinil  viiluino  uf  the  .Xiui'riuaii  Klliiiulouiuui  Sociuly'ti  Trunsactiuns, 


h  I 


390 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Meherriii  River,  in  Virginia,  and  some  other  tribes  of  the  Monalioac  stock.  If  they 
luul  received  into  their  confederacy,  with  eipial  rights,  all  the  nations  whom  they 
conquered,  they  would  have  become  a  most  powerful  confederacy,  stretching  from  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  This  fact  appears  to  have  been  per- 
ceived by  Cana.ssatego  when  he  gave  that  remarkable  piece  of  advice  to  the  Colonial 
Commissioners  at  Lancaster,  in  July,  1744,  recommending  union  and  agreement 
among  the  colonies,  and  stating  that  this  had  been  the  cause  of  the  Iroquois  strength 
and  power. 

OXKIDAS, 

Tlu!  name  of  this  tribe  holds  a  prominent  place  in  the  aboriginal  history  of  the 
country.  Iroquois  tradition  regards  tiiem  as  one  of  the  youngest  members  of  their 
confederacy,  but  a,s  far  as  the  deeds  of  this  noted  confederacy  are  known,  the  Oneidas 
ever  held  a  prominent  rank.  It  is  averred  that  an  Oneida  sage  first  suggested  in 
council  the  j)lan  of  the  confederacy,  and  the  tribe  has  been  noted  down  to  modern 
days  for  a  succession  of  wise  counsellors  and  benevolent  men.  The  name  of  Oneida 
is  indicative  of  the  origin  of  the  tribe.  They  had  lived  at  a  ])rior  period  on  the 
banks  of  Oneida  Lake,  at  the  confluence  of  Oneida  Creek.  They  migratrKl  from 
their  first  j)osition  up  tiie  beautiful  and  fertile  valley  of  the  Oneida  to  Kunalua,  the 
})resent  site  of  the  town  of  Oneida  Castle,  and  subsequently  to  the  elevated  lands  at 
the  source  of  the  stream.  Tiie  sachems  pitched  their  wigwams  near  a  large  crystal 
spring  on  tliese  heights,  in  a  snuill  rural  valley  shaded  ])rofusely  with  butternut- 
trees.  Tiie  site  wius  sheltered  from  the  eastern  winds  by  the  contiguous  summit  of 
an  elevated  hill.  Its  western  borders  afforded  a  range  for  hunting  the  deer  and  elk, 
— a  range  extending  to  the  banks  of  the  Suscpiehanna.  Near  this  spring,  resting  on 
the  gra.ssy  jilain,  stood  an  upright  boulder  of  tSilurian  limestone,  which  is  figured  in 
the  cut  on  the  opposite  jiage.  This  has  sometimes  been  called  by  Europeans  the 
Oneida  Stone,  but  not  correctly. 

Some  five  or  six  hundred  yards  east  of  this  secluded  and  romantic  location  the 
sheltering  hill  reaches  its  apex.  On  this  elevated  position  they  found  an  orbicular 
boulder  of  rock  partly  embedded  in  the  soiK  at  which  they  built  their  council-fin' 
while  assembled  around  it  to  delilterate  on  their  national  affairs.  This  spot  l)eeanie 
the  site  of  their  beacon-fire  when  it  was  necessary  to  summon  the  tribe  to  war.  For 
it  was  the  apex  of  the  summit-lands,  and  a  light  kindLd  here  could  be  seen  for  a 
<listance  of  forty  miles.  Oneida  Lake  is  clearly  visible  from  it,  and  the  curling 
smokt^  of  the  fire  kindled  at  that  place  was  the  rallying-sign. 

Tilt'  name  of  the  tribe  is  derived  from  this  council-fire  and  beacon-stone.  The 
term  (yiifi'i  in  the  Oneida  language  signifies  simply  a  round  stone,  and  is  proi>aiily 
derived  originally  from  the  Irocpiois  on,  a  hill,  its  local  and  participial  forms  in  Id 
and  aiif/  being  dropped  in  usage.  Nationality  with  our  Indian  tribes  is  dated  fmni 
the  period  (»f  their  assuming  to  build  a  separate  council-fire.  Viewed  under  tliese 
striking  circunistanees  in  their  history, — always  present  in  the  minds  of  the  Oneidas, 
— the  term  carries  the  signilication  of  the  Tribe  of  the  Light  of  the  Council-Fire, 


THE   TRIBES. 


391 


and  Council-Stone.  Actuated  by  the  respect  wliich  is  felt  for  the  tribe,  the  people 
of  Oneida  County,  New  York,  have  within  recent  years  transferred  this  monument 
of  Oneida  history  from  its  ancient  resting-place  between  the  waters  of  the  Mohawk 
and  Sus(piehanna  to  an  artificial  mound  prepared  for  i\h  reception  in  the  cemetery  at 
Utica. 


The  Oneidas  invariably  mairtainod  a  high  rank  for  the  urbanity  of  their  manners 
and  the  wisdom  of  their  counsels.  Urave  in  war,  mild  in  peace,  and  hospitable 
under  all  circumstances,  no  visitor  or  wayfarer,  wiiite  or  red,  ever  entered  their 
cabins  without  having  his  wants  supplied  and  being  kindly  put  on  his  track. 
Humanity  thus  apjjeaicd  to  quenched  the  spirit  of  vengeance,  and  it  was  only 
necessary  for  the  weak  to  fall  into  their  ])ower  to  be  assured  of  kindness  and  safety. 
During  tiie  course  of  our  b.icitory  thi-y  have  uttered  expressions  which  would  not 
disgrace  the  lips  of  a  fJrccian  sage,  and  as  the  claims  of  civilization  became  understood 
they  have  endorsed  those  claims  in  expressions  which  nuiy  be  said  to  embody  the 
very  essence  of  Ciiristianity.  No  maxim  of  anticpiity  excels  in  sublime  simplicity 
or  trutlifu!nes.s  the  expressions  t)f  the  venerable  8kenandoah,  uttered  in  view  of  his 
(h^ath,  wlien  the  years  of  more  than  a  century  had  passed  over  his  head,  and  he 
waited  in  total  blindness  and  calm  sul)mission  for  the  hour  of  his  recall  from  earthly 
scenes. 

The  French  called  this  tril>e  Onioiih,  and  the  Canadian  authorities  made  early 
and  strenuous  efforts  to  bring  tiiem  under  their  inHncnce  <luring  the  entire  period  of 
the  Dutcii  rule  and  the  early  English  epoch,  up  to  the  time  when  were  built  the 
military  works  at  tiie  mouth  of  Oswego  River,  on  Lake  Ontario,  and  at  Fort  Stanwix, 
near  the  source  of  the  Mohawk.  These  early  transactions  are  succinctly  and  con- 
secutively descril)ed  by  Colden  in  his  "History  of  the  Five  Nations."  Antiquarian 
evi<len(cs  of  these  edbrts  to  exert  jurisdiction  over  the  country  yet  remain,  or  re- 
niiiiiied  but  a  few  years  since,  in  ISl'J,  Mr.  Sciioolciaft  visited  and  examined 
remains  of  ancient  works  called  the  "  French  Fields,"  situated  in  tiie  town  of  Lenox, 
but  a  few  miles  west  of  Oneida  Castle. 


'ift:  ii 

! 

■r 

111!  :Siv  1 
ii  ill  ' 


I    1 

|i'  I; 


392 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


The  relations  of  the  Oneidas  with  the  European  races  wore  at  first  friendly, 
peaceable,  and  consistent.  With  the  United  Provinces  of  Holland,  from  the  era  of 
Hudson,  in  IGOD,  they  were  ever  on  terms  of  the  closest  amity.  When  Great  Britain 
assumed  the  sovereignty,  in  1GG4,  the  same  close  relations  were  continued.  Trade 
was  uninterrupted,  and  peace  was  faithfully  preserved  on  both  sides.  Not  a  drop  of 
Knglish  or  Oneida  blood  was  intentionally  shed  to  disturb  the  long  period  of  har- 
mony, and  when,  more  than  a  century  later,  the  United  States  assumed  the  sov- 
ereignty, the  Oneidius,  t:  le  to  a  line  of  policy  due  to  their  ancient  chiefs,  sided  with 
the  insurgent  colonists,  and  remained  their  allies  throughout  the  contest.  It  is  an 
honor  to  them  to  say  that  Jis  a  tribe  they  shared  the  res[>ect  and  esteem  of  Wash- 
ington, and  that  their  noble  sachems  stood  by  lini  in  the  darkest  and  most  perilous 
days  of  the  Revolution. 

All  that  marked  the  aboriginal  state  of  the  Oneida  prosperity  and  power  has 
pas.sc(l  away.  Many  of  their  number  have  taken  shelter  in  the  distant  valleys  of 
Wisconsin,  and  a  portion  of  the  tribe  has  Joined  the  Iro(piois  settlements  in  Canada : 
in  both  positions,  however,  they  arc  no  longer  hunters  and  warriors,  but  farmers, 
mechanics,  and  Christians.  The  remnant  who  linger  in  their  beloved  valley  have 
almost  entirely  conformed  to  the  high  state  of  industry  and  morals  around  them. 
Their  only  ambition  now  is  centred  in  the  school,  the  church,  the  farm,  and  the  work- 
shop. Not  a  trace  of  paganism  is  left.  Not  a  single  member  of  their  compact  and 
industrial  conununity  is  known  -ho  is  not  a  temperate  man.  Education  and  industry 
have  jjerformcd  their  usual  oflices,  and  the  iState  of  New  York  has  within  late  years 
extended  over  them  the  shield  of  her  protective  laws  and  given  them  the  benefits  of 
her  school  system. 

Few  men  have  appeared  among  the  aboriginal  race  who  are  as  well  entitled  to 
respect  a.s  was  the  Oneida  chief  tSkenaiidoali.  Few  men  in  the  narrow  sphere  of 
Indian  action  have  passed  through  such  varii'd  scenes,  and  still  fewer  have  been 
spared  to  abide  so  many  years  on  the  earth,  for  he  was  reputed  to  be  one  hundred 
and  ten  years  of  age  when  he  died.  If  he  was  so,  he  must  have  been  born  in  the 
early  part  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  and  he  lived  on  to  the  close  of  Air.  Madison's 
Presidential  term.  In  the  Kevolutionary  contest  he  and  his  tril)e  joined  the  colonists, 
and  rendered  essential  services  to  the  Auierican  arms;  while  the  Mohawks,  and  other 
members  of  the  celebrated  and  powerful  Inxpiois  league,  cast  in  their  lot  with  tlie 
cause  of  the  mother-country,  and,  ui-der  the  leadership  of  Brant,  hung  like  a  pesti- 
lence around  the  settlements  of  the  frontiers. 

.Skenandoah  early  evinced  the  most  active  character  iis  a  hunter.  Khrewd  in  the 
observation  of  the  habits  of  animals,  and  skilful  to  track  them  in  the  forest,  his 
agility  was  compared  to  that  of  the  deer,  and  this  is  the  idea  embraced  in  the  name 
of  Skeimii<}<)(t]t.  \\\  person  he  was  tall,  brawny,  erect,  and  dignilied.  Jlis  coun- 
tenance was  rather  light  for  an  Indian,  his  eye  was  gray,  his  li|)s  very  pleasing  and 
<',\pressive,  his  voice  sonorous,  and  his  whole  air  nobh'  and  commanding.  In  his 
youth  be  had  been  a  brave  and  intrepiil  warrior.  In  his  ripei-  years  he  was  one  ot" 
the  ablest  of  counsellors.     He  pos.sessed  a  strong  and  vigorous  mind.     He  never  gave 


THE  TRIBES 


393 


way  to  violent  passion.  He  calmly  weighed  every  subject  that  was  presented  to  him, 
and  generally  preserved  a  blandness  of  manner,  which,  without  lowering  hid  aignity, 
was  very  captivating. 

According  to  tradition,  he  was  born  of  Oneida  parentage,  at  Couciitoga,  in  the 
quasi-military  colony  which  tlie  Iroquois  confederacy  maintained  on  the  banks  of  the 
Husquehanna  for  the  purpose  of  surveillance  over  the  Southern  tribes.  It  is  believed 
tliat  he  left  this  stream  and  returned  to  the  Oneida  tribe  at  Oneida  Castle,  in  New 
York,  after  the  tragical  events  which  mark  the  history  of  Conestoga.  At  Oneida 
('astle  we  hear  of  him  as  a  ruling  chief.  In  this  capacity  he  was  from  an  early  date 
recognized  among  the  deloguies  and  ambassadors  of  his  tribe  at  oflicial  convocations. 
In  175o  he  iussistcd  in  making  a  treaty  at  Albany.  Like  most  of  his  tribe,  he  had 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremonies  indulged  freely  in  the  use  of  ardent  spirits, 
and  he  found  himself  in  the  streets  on  the  following  morning  stripped  of  every 
ornament  and  of  all  his  clothing.  His  pride  revolted  at  this  degradation.  He  saw 
in  the  clearest  light  the  evils  which  threatened  his  tribe  from  this  destructive  practice, 
and  he  resolved  from  that  moment  never  more  to  indulge  in  strong  drink.  This 
resolution  he  firmly  kept  for  more  than  half  a  century  to  the  day  of  his  death,  and 
this  was  doubtless  one  of  the  leading  causes  of  his  advancement  among  the  counsel- 
lors of  his  tribe. 

Skonandoah  possessed  a  strong  sense  of  justice,  and  exerted  himself  to  control 
the  wild  young  men,  who  in  those  days  sometimes  committed  depredations  on  the 
property  of  the  frontier  settlers.  First  in  the  line  of  early  settlements  that  had 
begun  to  stretch  from  the  Mohawk  beyond  the  present  site  of  Utica,  were  Whites- 
town,  Middle  Settlement,  and  Clinton,  on  the  Oriskany.  At  the  latter  place  a  party 
of  young,  lawless,  and  iiungry  Oneidas  killed  a  cow  in  the  woods,  the  flesh  of  which 
they  ate,  and  carefully  buried  the  bones,  hoping  thus  to  hide  all  trace  of  the  act. 
Tiie  frontiersmen  of  th'^s"  days  were,  however,  but  little  behind  the  Indians  in  the 
knowledge  of  signs.  Tlie  inicpiity  was  soon  found  out,  and  was  reported  to  Skenan- 
dctah  at  Oneida  Ca.stle.  It  was  confessed  by  the  guilty  parties,  and  the  chief,  who 
had  some  cattle,  ottered  one  of  them  to  make  restitution.  Among  his  herd  was  a 
iiiie  milch  cow,  by  which  he  set  great  store.  This  was  the  animal  pitched  upon  by 
tlie  (Minton  men.  The  chief  heard  their  decision  with  dismay.  But  he  refrained 
from  giving  any  expression  to  his  regret,  merely  saying,  "Oh,  you  acute  people,  you 
are,  indeed,  excellent  judges  of  cattle." 

The  ruilowing  was  related  l)y  the  chief  himself  to  Mr.  Williams.' 

"  In  IV  "iS,  the  Chevalier  de  I?elstrie  headed  a  i)arty  of  French  and  Indians,  three 
hundred  strong,  from  Oswegatchie,  to  attack  Herkimer,  on  the  Mohawk  River.  It 
so  hapjK'ned  that  one  of  the  Oneida  Indians,  who  was  then  on  a  hunt,  fell  in  witli  a 
Caughnawalma,  who  disclosed  to  him  the  olyect  of  the  expedition  and  advised  him 
to  alarm  the  v)neidus  and  the  people  of  Herkimer.  The  Oneida  immediately  tied  to 
his  canton  with   the  intelligence. 


But  in  the  council  held  on  the  occasion  no  one 


\     1 


1     :.: 


'  Ht'V.  Kloiizar  \Villi;inifi  (tho  n'putdl  Louis  XVIt."). 
jit 


fr 

PHin" 

t^ 

¥ 


!'   1  f' 


1(1  Iffi^i! 


394 


77/^  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


would  volunteer  to  go  to  Herkimer,  as  it  was  supposed  that  between  the  two  jjlaoeH 
the  country  was  already  infested  by  the  enemy's  scouts,  liut  Hkenandoah  volun- 
teered, and  without  delay  was  on  his  way  tlirough  the  pathless  wilderness.  Being  a 
'swift  rtuiner,'  as  was  said  by  one  of  his  contemporaries,  he  reached  the  place  of  his 
destination  in  a  short  time.  On  his  arrival,  he  informeil  the  proper  i)erson8  of  the 
alarming  news  which  had  reached  tlie  Oneidas,  and  that  he  had  come  on  jmrpose  to 
coninuinicate  the  same  to  the  people  of  Herkimer.  Ihit,  unfortunately,  the  intelli- 
gence was  discredited  by  many,  though  the  few  particular  friends  Skenandoah  had 
among  those  Germans  adhered  to  his  advice.  Tiiese  moved  immediately  down  the 
river  for  safety.  As  for  the  rest,  who  gave  but  partial  credit  to  his  report,  they 
made  little  pre2)aratiou  for  self-defence,  and  fell  a  sacrifice  to  their  incredulity  and 
apathy." 

The  Oneida  Indians  had  ever  since  they  were  known  to  the  whites  held  a  high 
reputation.  Speaking  one  of  the  softest  of  the  Irocjuois  dialects,  the  Oiu'idas  were 
also  men  of  greater  amenity  of  manners  than  others  of  that  fic^rce  rej)ublic,  which 
had  achieved  its  ])ower  alone  by  war.  They  were  noted  not  less  for  their  friendly 
manners  tlian  for  the  wisdom  of  their  counsels.  And  they  ever  held  a  prominent 
place  in  the  councils  of  the  confe^leracy.  Skenandoah  was  pre-eminently  a  just 
representative  of  the  nation.  Wlier.  the  English  determined  to  establish  Fort  Stan- 
wix  in  the  Oneida  dominions,  the  measure  had  his  assent.  In  every  jjoint  of  view  it 
was  one  of  ])ul>lic  beneiit,  for,  while  it  gave  his  j)eo[)le  the  means  of  regulating  the 
abuses  of  the  fur  trade,  it  interposed  a  check  to  the  predatory  parties  of  French  and 
Indians,  who  for  so  many  years  had  poured  down  upon  the  country,  making  the 
Mohawk  Valley  literally  a  Held  of  blood. 

When  the  contest  arose  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother-country,  Skenan- 
doah's  long  hal)its  of  association  with  the  English,  and  his  own  personal  feelings, 
would  have  naturally  kept  him  on  the  side  of  the  crown,  luid  not  other  views  of  life 
and  duty  made  impressions  on  his  mind.  He  was  naturally  a  benevolent  man,  and 
as  bis  years  advanced,  and  war  and  the  chase  jtri'sented  less  vivid  attractions  to  him, 
he  was  plea.'^ed  to  see  the  increasing  attention  paid  l)y  his  tribe  to  the  cultivation  of 
fields  and  the  raising  of  cattle.  No  other  inlUience  had  so  direct  a  tendency  to 
develop  tliis  disposition  as  the  instructions  given  by  Mr.  Sanniel  Kirkland,  who  lived 
in  the  Oneida  country  as  a  teacher  and  missionary.  Mr.  Kirkland's  mission  to  the 
Oneidas  was  undertaken  in  IH'A.  Oneida  Castle,  the  ancient  seat  of  the  Oneidas,  is 
some  five-and-thirty  miles  west  of  Herkimer,  wbicii  was  at  tbat  time  tiie  outermost 
(if  the  frontier  white  settlements,  and  the  only  mad  to  it  was  by  the  winding  Indian 
paths  that  led  through  tlie  deep  forest  wliieli  tlien  covered  the  whole  country. 

One  of  the  pi'culiar  hardships  of  missionary  enterprises  at  that  day  wiis  the  scant 
means  of  sustenance.  Like  other  cantons  of  tlie  IrcMpiois,  the  Oneidas  rai.sed  Indian 
corn,  but  often  not  in  siitlicient  (pianlities  to  last  over  till  the  new  crop  came.  Kirk- 
land counselled  them  to  lely  more  on  agrienlture.  The  cliief  at  once  acknowledged 
tlie  excellence  of  tlie  ailvice,  and  tlie  people  began  to  enlarge  tlieir  iields  and  to  cul- 
tivate eseiiK'nt  veiretabies.      In  the  end  Skeiiandoah  embraced  ("lirislianil  v.     To  iiain 


I 


THE   TlilJiJ-JS. 


395 


Skenaiuloah  wiis,  in  fact,  to  gain  the  Oneida  tribe,  and  he  adhered  to  Christian  tenets 
and  forms  with  stability,  and  continued  steadfastly  to  honor  his  i)rofes8ion  till  he 
descended  to  the  grave. 

The  willing  attention  which  Skeiiandoah  gave  to  moral  instruction  appeared  to 
prepare  the  way  for  the  enlargement  of  his  mind  on  other  subjects.  It  is  known  that 
Mr.  Kirkland  was  a  personal  friend  of  Washington,  and  he  often  conveyed  to  the 
Indians  Washington's  advice  with  regard  to  the  conduct  of  their  national  affairs. 
AVashington  desired  the  Indians  to  maintain  neutrality  in  the  contest,  and  to  adopt 
the  ordinary  means  which  civilized  nations  employ  to  secure  comfort  and  happiness. 
It  luus  always  been  one  of  the  hardest  and  most  unsuccessful  of  tasks  to  repress  the 
insatiate  passion  of  the  Indian  for  war,  for  war  seems  to  most  of  the  aboriginal  races 
the  only  path  to  honorable  distinction.  The  Mohawks,  who  had  been  the  peculiar 
recipients  of  royal  favor  at  Johnson  Hall,  rushed  eagerly  into  the  contest,  supporting 
the  royal  cause.  The  Senecas,  who  covered  the  country  from  the  lake  at  Geneva, 
the  ancient  Canadagia,  to  the  banks  of  the  Niagara,  followed  them.  The  Cayugas, 
the  Onondagas,  and  a  portion  of  the  Tuscaroras  adopted  the  same  policy.  All  tin; 
Western  tribes,  in  fact,  took  up  the  tomahawk  on  the  royalist  side.  Tribes  who  had 
lived  in  war  for  uncounted  generations,  and  who  had  sucked  in  the  love  of  warfare 
with  their  mothers'  milk,  listened  coldly  to  all  counsels  of  peace,  and  could  hardly 
fail  to  suspect  that  the  ardor  of  Washington's  pacific  advice  arose  in  part  from  the 
weakness  of  his  jtosition,  hedged  in  as  he  was  on  one  side  by  the  armies  and  fleets  of 
one  of  the  most  powerful  of  nations,  and  on  the  other  by  their  own  numerous  and 
formidable  countrymen. 

Skenandoah  was  not  led  astray  by  any  such  impression.  The  accuracy  with 
which  he  was  furnished  with  intelligence  respecting  the  causes  and  progress  of  the 
contest,  placed  him  in  a  position  to  judge  calmly  and  correctly.  From  the  begin- 
ning he  espoused  the  American  cause.  When  the  struggle  assumed,  perhaps,  its 
most  disheartening  aspect,  in  1777,  the  Oneidas  offered  the  struggling  colonies  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men.  These  men  were  not  accepted  for  service  in  the  field,  but 
were  employed,  under  the  conduct  of  Skenandoah  and  a  chief  called  Lewis,  as  scouts 
and  mes.sengers.  As  such  they  were  useful  during  the  war,  and  rendered  signal  ser- 
vice in  ol)serving  the  progress  of  the  enemy  from  Canada,  under  Sir  John  Johnson, 
previous  to  the  seizure  of  Fort  Stanwix. 

In  the  winter  of  1780,  Skenandoah  and  two  others  undertook  a  long  and  tedious 
journey  to  Niagara,  with  the  ostensible  purpose  of  relieving  the  sufferings  of  those 
Oneidas  who  were  prisoners  at  that  place,  and  they  were  bearers  of  a  friendly  letter 
from  the  Oni'ida  chiefs  to  the  commandant  of  Niagara.  Mr.  Dean,  the  United  States 
interpreter,  has  stated  that  this  journey  was  undertaken  by  the  advice  of  Governor 
Clinton,  General  Schuyler,  and  the  commandant  at  Fort  Stanwix,  who  supplied  them 
with  neces.saries  for  the  journey.  Although  the  nature  of  their  mission  Wiis  not 
(liscovereil,  yet  they  were  suspected  of  being  spies,  and  in  consequence  were  held  as 
prisoners  at  Niagara.  They  were  eon  lined  there  three  months  in  irons,  but  were 
released  from  their  confinement  after  having  made  a  promise  to  the  commandant  of 


11 


li 


iyt 


39G 


77//;  h\DlA!f  TJillih'S   OF  THE   UNITED  UfATES. 


the  post  to  roinain  with  the  Britisli  during  the  war;  to  which  promise  two  among 
them,  of  whom  Skenandoah  was  ono,  adiiercd  strictly,  not  returning  to  their  nation 
until  after  the  peace,  in  1782.  To  carry  out  the  original  design  of  their  visit  to  that 
post,  one  of  the  three,  with  the  approbation  of  his  two  friends,  said  he  would  attempt 
to  return  to  his  tribe,  and  go  to  Albany  with  the  intelligence  he  had  obtained  of  the 
enemy's  strength  and  position, — points  which  had  been  examined  wiih  an  Indian's 
eye.  "  There  is  no  honor  or  justice  in  this  kind  of  war,"  said  Hkcnandoah.  "  We 
are  unjustly  detained  as  prisoners.  We  came  here,  so  far  as  the  Ikitish  knew,  on  a 
friendly  mission ;  but  they  took  us  for  enemies  without  any  information  concerning 
us,  and  they  have  treated  us  as  such.     Let  us  carry  out  our  original  plan." 

Skenandoah's  person  was  tall  and  brawny,  but  well  made ;  his  countenance  was 
intelligent,  and  strongly  expressed  the  native  dignity  of  an  Indian  chief.  He 
possessed  a  strong  and  vigorous  mind,  and,  though  terrible  as  a  tornado  in  war,  he 
was  bland  and  mild  in  peace.  With  the  cunning  of  the  fox,  the  hungry  perseverance 
of  the  wolf,  and  the  agility  of  the  mountain-cat,  he  watched  and  repelled  the 
Canadian  invasions.  His  vigilance  once  preserved  from  massacre  the  inhabitants  of 
the  infant  settlement  at  German  Flats,  and  among  the  Indian  tril)es  he  was  distin- 
guished by  the  aj)pellation  of  "  the  white  man's  friend." 

So  strong  was  the  attachment  of  the  Indian  chief  to  Mr.  Kirkland  that  he 
obtained  from  the  Kirkland  family  a  promise  that  he  should  be  buried  near  his 
spiritual  father  (whom  he  survived  several  years),  in  order  that,  as  he  said,  "  he 
might  cling  to  the  skirts  of  his  garments,  and  go  up  with  him  at  the  great  resur- 
rection." When  he  died,  March  11,  181(>,  aged  one  hundred  and  ten  years,  his 
remains  were  conveyed  to  Clinton,  where  a  funeral  service  was  held  in  the  church, 
after  which  his  body  was  deposited  as  he  had  desired.  A  monument  has  been  erected 
to  the  chief  at  Hamilton  College. 

In  his  old  age  visits  of  honor  were  frequently  made  to  him.  It  was  on  one  of 
these  occasions,  when  his  visitors  were  gathered  before  him,  and  the  thoughts  of  other 
days  came  strongly  upon  him,  that  he  uttered  these  words : 

"  I  am  an  aged  hemlock.  The  winds  of  a  hundred  winters  have  whistled  throusrh 
my  branches.  I  am  dead  at  the  top.  The  generation  to  which  I  l)elonged  have  run 
their  course  and  left  me.  Why  I  live,  the  (Jreat  Good  Spirit  only  knows.  Pray  to 
my  Jesus  that  I  may  have  j>afieiK'e  to  await  my  appointed  time  to  die." 


OXONDAGAS. 


Iroquois  liistory,  like  tluit  of  many  nations  of  fur  higher  pretensions  to  wisdom 
mid  glory,  begins  in  an  obscure  period  of  mythical  deities,  giants,  monsters,  and 
nondescripts.     The  Indian  cosmogonies  are  not  a  whit  behind  those  of  early  Greece 


'  The  term  nij/ii,  in  tlic  TroquoiM,  signifies  place  or  lorality,  and  is  tlic  e(|uiviilpnt  of  tin-  Kn^lish  tormi- 
nutions  in  iy,  bury,fiild,  ham,  etc.  On,  in  compound  words,  denotes  a  liiil ;  its  duplication  gives  intensity. 
In  tliis  uiunncr  tiiu  expression  Onondaga  (i.e.,  place  of  liills)  has  its  ori^'in. 


THE   THlliES. 


397 


for  extravagance  and  incongruity.  Beginning  their  historic  narrative  (hke  the  old 
nations  who  lived  about  the  Mediterranean)  bj  the  acknowledgment  of  a  First  Great 
Cause,  and  recognizing  in  tlieir  history  the  occurrence  of  a  general  deluge,  the  Iro- 
quois take  into  the  councils  of  their  god  Owayneo  a  great  antagonistical  power  called 
Kluneolux,  and  a  multitude  of  lesser  demoniac  agencies,  and  they  soon  get  the  creation 
under  the  influence  of  conflicting  spirits  of  a  character  such  as  the  J]vil  One  alone 
could  have  inc^pired.  Their  fabulous  accounts  of  the  origin  of  things  are  very  note- 
worthy, but  are  rendered  uninteresting  by  the  clumsiness  of  their  narration.  The 
Arabs  themselves  do  not  exceed  the  aboriginal  Americans  in  their  wild  tales  of 
necromantic  transformations.  The  actors  slip  themselves  into  the  shape  of  beasts 
and  birds,  reptiles  and  insects,  dancing  feathers,  sunbeams,  trees,  and  stones ;  and  as 
for  sorcery  and  magic  medicine,  Nineveh  and  Babylon  could  not  exceed  the  pre- 
tended powers  of  the  Iroquois  priests,  prophets,  wabenoes,  and  medas.  Atahentsic, 
the  Irotjuois  affirm,  is  a  goddess  in  heaven.  To  see  her  six  of  the  original  men 
ascended  to  the  celestial  regions.  The  ruler  of  the  skies,  having  discovered  the 
amour,  cast  her  headlong  to  the  water,  which  then  filled  the  abyss  where  the  earth 
now  is.  She  was  received  on  the  back  of  a  turtle,  which  rapidly  extended  itself  and 
grew  to  the  dimensions  of  the  earth.  On  the  earth  she  fixed  her  abode,  and  here 
she  was  delivered  of  male  twins,  of  whom  one  was  called  Youskika,  the  other  Thon- 
itsanon.  The  two  typified  the  conflicting  powers  of  good  and  evil.  Youskika,  the 
elder  of  these,  finally  killed  the  younger.  Soon  after  Atixhentsic  resigned  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  earth  into  the  hands  of  the  murderer.  Atahentsic  is  regarded  in  a 
symbolical  sense  as  being  the  sanjc  as  the  moon,  and  Youskika  is  identical  with  the 
sun. 

The  origin  of  the  Iroquois  the  traditions  ascribe  to  a  place  in  the  vicinity  of 
Oswego,  and  from  thence  they  dispersed  over  New  York.  Cana-ssatego,  a  venerable 
chief,  speaking  of  the  times  of  old,  used  the  following  words ; 

"  When  our  good  Owayneo  raised  Akanishiogeny  out  of  the  waters,  he  said  to 
his  brethren,  '  llow  fine  a  country  is  this !  I  will  make  red  men,  the  best  of  men,  to 
enjoy  it.'  Then  with  handfuls  of  red  seeds,  like  the  eggs  of  flies,  did  he  strew  the 
fertile  fields  of  Onondaga.  Little  worms  canic  out  of  the  seeds  and  penetrated  the 
earth,  when  the  spirits  who  had  never  yet  seen  the  light  entered  into  and  united  with 
them.  IManeto  watered  the  earth  with  his  rain,  the  sun  warmed  it,  the  worms  with 
the  spirits  in  them  grew,  putting  forth  little  arms  and  legs,  and  moved  the  light 
earth  that  covered  them.  After  nine  moons  they  came  forth  perfect  boys  and  girls. 
Owayneo  covered  them  with  his  mantle  of  warm,  purple  cloud,  and  nourished  them 
with  milk  from  his  fingers'  ends.  Nine  summers  did  he  nurse  them,  and  nine  sum- 
mers more  did  he  instruct  them  how  to  live.  In  the  mean  time  he  had  made  for  their 
use  trees,  plants,  and  animals  of  various  kinds.  Akanishiogeny  was  covered  with 
woods  and  filled  with  creatures.  Then  he  assembled  his  children  together  and  said, 
'  Ye  are  five  nations,  for  ye  sprang  each  from  a  diflerent  handful  of  the  seed  I  sowed, 
but  ye  are  all  brethren :  and  I  am  your  father,  for  I  made  you  all :  1  have  nursed 
aud  brought  you  up. 


3l>8 


77/ A'   /\/)/AX   T/i/nh'S   UF   TllK   UMTh'P   A7'.17'AW. 


" '  .^[()Im\vks,  I  liavo  iimdo  yoii  hold  itiid  valiant;  and  hcc,  1  give  you  corn  for  your 
food.  Oni'idas,  I  have  made  yon  patient  ol'|)ain  and  iinngcr;  the  nnt«  and  f'ruit;<  of 
the  treert  arc  yours.  8eneea.>i,  I  iiave  made  you  inchistriou.s  and  active;  heans  do  I 
give  you  for  your  iiourinhiuent.  Cayug;i.><,  1  have  made  you  strong,  friendly,  and 
generous;  ground-nuts  and  every  ro"!,  shall  refresh  you  Onondagas,  I  have  made 
you  wise,  just,  and  ehMjuent ;  s(|ua>ihes  and  grapes  have  I  given  you  to  eat,  and 
tohaeco  to  smoke  iu  council.  The  hea.stM,  hirds,  and  iishes  1  have  given  to  you  all  in 
common. 

" '  As  I  Imvo  loved  ami  taken  care  of  you,  so  do  you  love  and  take  care  of  one 
another.  Communicate  freely  to  each  other  the  good  things  1  have  given  you,  and 
learn  to  imitate  each  other's  virtui».  I  have  made  you  the  hest  pcoph;  in  the  world, 
and  I  give  you  the  best  country.  You  will  defend  it  from  the  invasions  of  other 
nations,  from  the  children  of  other  gods,  and  keep  [)ossession  of  it  for  yourselves, 
while  the  sun  and  moon  give  light,  and  the  waters  run  in  the  rivers.  This  you  shall 
do  if  you  observe  my  words.  >S])irits!  I  um  now  about  to  leave  you.  The  bodies  1 
have  given  you  will  in  time  grow  old  and  wear  out,  so  that  you  will  be  weary  of 
them;  or  from  various  aceitlents  they  may  become  unlit  for  your  habitation,  and  you 
will  leave  them.  I  cannot  remain  here  always  to  give  »n  new  ones.  I  have  great 
aifairs  to  mind  in  distant  ])laces,  and  I  cannot  again  so  i  ng  attend  to  the  nursing  of 
children.  I  have  enabled  you,  therefore,  a,niong  yourselves  to  produce  new  l)odies  to 
supi)ly  the  place  of  old  oiu's,  that  every  one  of  you,  when  he  parts  with  his  old 
habitation,  may  in  due  time  find  a  new  one,  and  never  wander  longer  than  he  chooses 
under  the  earth,  dej)rived  of  the  light  of  the  sun.  Nourish  and  instruct  your  children 
as  I  have  nourished  and  instructed  you.  JJe  just  to  all  men,  and  kind  to  strangers 
that  come  among  you.  So  shall  ye  be  happy,  and  be  loved  by  all,  and  I  myself  will 
sometimes  visit  and  a-ssist  you.'  " 

The  Onondagas  early  attracted  notice  for  their  expertness  in  the  cha«e,  and  their 
bravery  and  enterprise  in  war.  They  were  also  celebrated  for  the  wisdom  of  their 
counsellors,  and  the  eloquence  of  their  .speakers.  The  name  of  CJarangula  will  long 
be  remembered  for  the  elo(juence  of  his  words  and  the  keen  irony  of  his  satire 
addressed  to  an  unsuccessful  French  invader  of  his  country.  No  person  in  their 
early  history,  however,  appears  to  have  received  so  much  of  the  applause  of  the  tribe 
as  Atotarho.  Jle  was  not  only  a  hunter  and  warrior  of  great  renown,  but  lie  had  a 
reputation  for  sorcery  and  necromancy  which  made  him  the  dread  of  his  enemies. 
When  the  (piestioii  arose  of  placing  a  permanent  presiding  ollicer  over  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  general  confederacy,  the  position  was  olfered  to  him.  The  Mohawks, 
who  apj)ear  from  the  lirst  to  have  been  the  foremost  of  the  live  tribes  in  a  military 
j)oint  of  view,  sent  a  delegation  of  their  chiefs  to  Atotarho  to  announce  the  choice. 
Tliey  found  him,  after  a  search  in  the  forest,  sitting  in  an  open  space  smoking  his  j)ipe. 
His  body  was  surrounded  and  defended,  such  was  his  power  of  sorcery,  by  a  throng 
of  serpents,  which  darted  out  their  tongues  towards  the  intrusive  delegates,  who  never- 
theless stood  before  him  with  unmoved  composure,  armed  with  bows  and  arrows  and 
spears.     Their  heads  were  crowned  with  tlie  llowiiig  white  plumes  of  the  heron,  and 


i. 


T 


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o 
;:) 

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o 


pi* 


1 


THE   TRIBES. 


890 


tlicir  necks  und  brcnstH  orimiiionti'd  with  warlike  inHifjti'ni.  Atotarho  accpptpd  the 
triiHt,  and  \m  name,  liku  lliat  of  Cnsar,  lipoaino  in  atlcr-tiiucn  tlic  title  of  tiio  chief 
ollicer,  altliiiiij;h  tiie  titles  implied  notliin^r  lik(!  iiiipeiiul  dij^^nity,  for  the  Inxiuoifl 
j^ovt'rninent  was  always  strongly  federative  and  represeiitalive.  Accordinj^  to  the 
annalist  Cnsic,  there  were  thirteen  snccessors  l(»  this  title  before  the  era  of  Cohnnhns, 
— a  circninstance  which  n>ay  he  named  withont  attaching  innch  vahie  to  the  chronol- 
ogy of  that  writer. 

The  first  attempt  of  the  French  of  (!anada  to  explore  the  Ononilaga  eimntry  and 
obtain  a  footing  in  it  was  mad(!  in  KioIJ.  I^  Moine  gives  us  the  (h'tails  of  tint  expe- 
dition. The  war  with  the  I'ries  was  then  being  hotly  waged,  and  thi'l  tribe  was 
finally  concpiered,  as  we  learn  from  other  scairces,  and  the  Kries  were  eiliier  killed  or 
expelled  from  the  country  the  next  year.  This  visit  of  the  French  was  fidlowed  in 
after-years  l>y  the  esfablishnient  of  a  mission  and  a  French  colony  in  the  country  of 
the  Oiiondagas.  A  chief  named  Karnikonta  appears  to  have  been  the  principal  person 
who  extended  an  invitation  to  the  French  to  establish  this  mission.  The  cliapel  and 
fort  were  located  within  the  present  limits  of  the  township  of  De  Witt,  and  i\\v  lindts 
of  the  colony  extended  scaitherly  from  that  point  across  the  elevated  lands  to  the  site 
of  Pompey,  New  York.  It  does  not  appear  that  either  the  mission  or  the  colony 
existed  in  a  state  of  prosperity  more  than  a  few  years.  The  native  priesthood  opposed 
the  introduction  of  principles  which  c(»nHicted  so  directly  with  their  own.  Tratlition 
asserts  that  the  entire  settlement  was,  in  KWiCt,  secretly  risen  upon,  and  that  every 
colonist  wa.s  massacred  and  the  torch  applied  to  all  the  houses  in  one  night.  The 
Onondaga  tribe  now  numbers  about  six  hundred,  residing  principally  upon  the 
( )nondaga  Reserve.  The  St.  Kegis  Indians,  also  Iroquois,  number  seven  hundred 
and  eighty-live.     Of  the  Oneidas  and  Cayugas  few  remain. 

When  the  Onondaga  country  came  to  be  explored,  surveyed,  and  settled,  after  the 
close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  much  interest  and  curiosity  were  excited  by  flnding, 
together  with  relics  of  Indian  art,  anti(initics  which  betokened  a  prior  period  of 
civilization.  Such  interest  ceased  as  soon  as  the  narrative  of  the  French  missionary 
labors  became  aircssible  to  American  readei-s. 

The  New  York  Indians  reside  upon  eight  reservations;  they  number  five  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  seventy-live,  one-half  of  them  ISenecas.  They  are  slowly 
increasing  in  nnnd)cr,  and  are  steadily  progressing  in  farming  enterp-ise  and  in 
civilization.  For  over  twenty  years  the  State  has  provided  school-houses,  school- 
books,  teachers,  furniture  and  apparatus  for  the  education  of  Indian  children,  nearly 
all  of  whom  above  the  age  of  twelve  can  read  and  write.  There  are  thirty-one 
schools,  with  an  attendance  of  twelve  hundred  and  thirty-one  sdudars  out  of  fourteen 
hundred  and  seventy-one  children  of  schoid  age.  Some  of  the  teachers  are  Indians, 
who  are  fully  as  competent  as  their  white  a.ssociates.  The  Oneida.s,  whose  lands 
were  partitioned  in  fee  to  the  heads  of  families  in  \M'.\,  are  prosperous  farmers,  and 
arc  now  citizens  of  the  United  Slates.  Some  fourteen  hundred  and  ninety-two  mem- 
bers of  this  tribe,  constituting  its  larger  portion,  have  a  reservation  of  sixty  thousand 
eight  hundred  ac-res  near  Green  liay,  Wisconsin.     The  Cornplanter  Reservation  was 


1 1 


400 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


partitioned  in  fee  amons  the  Scnecas  in  1871.  These  allotments  have  imparted 
additional  incentives  to  industry,  as  is  shown  by  the  improved  and  now  prosporons 
condition  of  the  people.  The  Seneca  Nation,  residing  upon  the  Alleghany  and  Cat- 
taraugus Reservations,  wj;ich  formerly  belonged  to  Massachusetts,  receive  an  income 
of  about  ten  thousand  dollars  per  year  from  lea.ses  of  certain  lands  in  the  Alleghany 
Reserve.  The  Tuscaronis,  numbering  four  hn»  dred  and  twenty-five,  own  in  fee  a 
small  reserve  of  six  thousand  and  forty-nine  acres,  near  Niagara  Palls.  The  title  is 
held  in  common,  but  their  land,  except  that  covered  with  timber,  has  been  piac- 
tically  partitioned  to  heads  of  families  for  many  years,  anc?  these  families  nov/  have 
l)ermanent  homes.  Most  of  their  reservation  wa.s  purcluused  about  1804  with  money 
arising  from  the  side  of  their  lands  in  North  Carolina.  They  are  good  farmers,  tem- 
perate, industrious,  and  thrifty,  take  a  deep  interest  in  education,  and  are  the  only 
one  of  the  six  tribes  of  New  York  who  have  not  received  money  aniuiities  either 
from  Mic  State  or  the  United  States. 

About  seven  hundred  of  the  Mohawks  reside  on  the  Grand  River,  near  Brant- 
ford,  Canada,  and  the  residue,  ;d)()ut  three  hundred,  live  on  the  Ray  of  (^uinte.  They 
have  made  considenilik'  advaiu'«!  in  husbandry  and  the  meclianic  arts,  and  are  be- 
lieved to  be  slowly  increasing  in  numbers.  They  have  always  been  noted  for  their 
indomitable  pride,  i)iuming  themselves  upon  the  fact  of  their  having  been  the  head 
of  the  famous  league  of  the  Iroquois.  This  pride  has  st(X)d  in  the  way  of  their 
progress.  The  more  tractable  Chippewas  of  Canada,  turning  tlieir  backs  upon  the 
j)ast,  bid  fair  to  outstrip  their  ancient  enemies,  the  Iroquois,  in  the  race  of  civilization. 


WYANDOT-IIUKOXS. 

The  Wyandots  or  Iliirons,  a  once  numerous  and  powerful  trilx;  of  Iroquois, 
located  for  many  years  in  Northwestern  Ohio,  were,  until  the  end  of  the  last  century, 
driven  alternately  east  ii  id  Avest  by  the  Six  Nations  and  Sioux.  They  were  jdaccd 
on  a  reservation  in  Kansas  in  18.'}2,  and  in  18o5  nmny  became  citizens.  A  small 
remnant  of  this  trilw,  numbering  two  hundred  and  fifty,  have  twenty-one  tiiousand 
seven  hut'  Ired  i.n  I  six  acre^s  in  the  Quapaw  Reservation,  Indian  Territory,  most  of 
it  suitable  only  for  grazing.  They  are  engaged  in  farming  and  eattle-raising,  and 
have  sixty-four  children  a(  the  Mission  School.  The  llurons,  alone  among  the  In- 
dian tiibes,  held  it  disgraceftil  to  turn  from  the  face  of  an  enemy  when  (he  fortunes 
of  the  light  wen;  adverse. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Wyandot-IIuron  tribe  from  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
by  the  fury  of  the  Iro(|uois.  in  \M\),  is  one  of  the  most  important  events  in  the 
lilstory  of  the  Northern  Indians,  'i'lieir  villages  were  destroyed  and  their  j)eople 
slaughtered.  Some  lied  to  Canada  (llnir  descendinits  are  still  at  Lorette,  near  Que- 
bec), others  were  incorporated  witii  the  iriMiuois,  and  others  still  sut>s('(pien«ly  settleil 
at  Detroit.  This  expulsion  thus  brought  a  part  of  that  ancient  trilte  into  the  basin 
of  Lake  Huron,  which  derives  its  name  from  their  residence  upon  some  of  its  prin- 
cipal islands.     Mieliilimaekinac,  with  its  nniral  eliils  and  nxrky  barriers,  oil'ered  an 


f^l, 


THE  TRIBES. 


401 


Giigible  retreat  to  the  fugitive  tribes,  while  its  fertile  calcareous  soil  offered  them  the 
taeana  of  cultivating  extensive  gardens.  The  vestiges  of  decomposed  limestone  strata 
cover  large  areas  of  the  island's  interior,  which  is  well  sheltered  and  has  an  elevated 
position  above  the  waters  c:'  the  lake.  But  from  this  strong  position  the  Hurons 
were  eventually  driven  by  the  war-canoes  of  the  conquering  Six  Nations.  They 
were  then  coni])elled  to  flee  to  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Superior. 

While  this  tribe  had  their  council-fire  on  the  island  (which  bore  the  name  of 
Ticonderoga  in  their  dialect),  Kondiaronk  (the  rat),  sometimes  called  Adario,  was 
the  leading  chief  and  counsellor  in  their  transactions.  He  was  an  able,  brave,  and 
politic  chief,  possessing  an  uncommon  d(!grce  of  energy  and  decision  of  character, 
united  to  a  keen  foresight.  Much  of  wlrt  is  known  of  the  Wyandot  history  might 
be  narrated  in  connection  with  a  sketch  of  his  life,  but  of  this  we  must  restrict 
ourselves  to  a  mere  outline. 

The  Wyandots  having  been  dispossessed  of  their  ancient  possessions  on  the  St. 
Lawrence  by  their  relatives,  the  Six  Nations,  on  account  of  their  alliance  with  the 
French,  and  the  hostilities  of  th«^  Six  Nations  having  been  continued  against  the 
French  settlements,  it  became  the  policy  of  the  Wyandots  to  avail  themselves  of  this 
hostility  and  keep  up  this  irritation,  in  order  to  draw  the  vengeance  of  the  French 
against  the  Iroquois.  Freiu-li  they  were  at  heart  when  expelled  from  the  St.  Law- 
r(!nce,  and  Fn^nch  they  exhibited  themselves  in  policy ;  and  accordingly  it  was  their 
object  to  keej)  the  Englisli  from  participating  in  the  fur-trade  of  the  Northwest.  In 
the  attempted  execution  of  both  tliese  designs  Adario  took  an  active  part. 

In  KiHM  the  ICiigli.sh  of  tiie  province  of  New  York  resolved  to  avail  themselves 
of  a  recent  alliance  between  the  two  crowns,  and  to  attempt  a  participation  in  tlu' 
fur-trade  of  the  upper  lakes.  They  persuaded  the  Iroquois  to  set  free  a  number  of 
Wyandot  ea])tives,  who  were  induced  to  guide  them  across  the  lakes,  so  as  to  open  an 
intercourHe  with  the  Northwestern  Indians.  Owing  to  the  high  price  and  scarcity 
of  goods,  this  ])liui  was  well  leceived  by  Adario  and  his  people,  and  also  by  the 
OttJiwaj^  and  Pottawatomies,  but  the  enterprise  ut  -ertheless  failed.  Major  McGreg- 
ory.  will)  led  the  party,  was  intercepted  by  a  large  body  of  Frenca  from  Mackinac, 
and  the  whole  party  was  captured,  and  their  goods  distributed  }. ratuilously  to  the 
Indians.  The  Lake  Indians,  who  had  covertly  countenanced  t.iis  attempt,  were 
thrown  back  entirely  on  the  French  trade,  and  were  henceforth  subjected  to  suspi- 
cions whicli  made  them  uneasy  in  tl  eir  councils,  and  they  became  anxious  to  do  away 
with  the  mistrust  entertained  of  their  iidelity  by  tin'  French.  In  order  to  prove  his 
iidelity,  Adario  marched  a  party  oi"  one  hundred  men  from  jMackinac  against  the 
Inxjuois.  When  he  stopped  at  Fort  C'adarackui  to  get  intelligence  which  might 
guid«'  him,  tlie  commandant  informed  Adario  that  the  Governor  of  Canada,  Denon- 
ville.  Wits  in  iiopes  of  concluding  a  peace  with  tiie  Six  Nations,  and  expected  their 
aml)a.ssadors  at  Montreal  in  a  few  days.  He  then  fore  advised  the  chief  to  return. 
Should  such  a  jteace  take  j)lace,  Adario  feared  that  it  would  leave  the  Iroquois  free 
to  pusii  the  war  against  his  nation,  vhich  had  already  been  driven  from  the  banks  of 
the  St.   Lawrence  to  Lake  Huron.     He  dis,s(!nd)led  his  fears,  however,  before  the 

■l)i 


'U 

y 

;  -I 

■¥.l 


'I 


402 


THE  INDIAN  Tin  RES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


t 


commandant,  and  loft  the  fb;t,  not  for  the  purpose  of  rcturninj;;  home,  but  to  waylay 
the  Iroquois  delegates  at  ii  portage  on  the  river  where  he  knew  they  must  puss.  He 
did  not  wait  over  tour  or  live  days,  when  the  (K'puties  arrived,  guarded  by  forty 
young  warriors,  who  were  all  surprised,  and  either  killed  or  taken  prisoners.  His 
next  object  was  to  shift  the  blame  of  the  act  on  the  (lovernor  of  Canada,  by  whom, 
he  lold  his  prisimei-s,  he  had  been  informed  of  their  intention  to  |)iiss  this  way. 
The  Iroipiois  were  imieh  surprised  at  this  apparent  a(;t  of  perfidy  on  the  part  of  the 
French,  and  they  assured  Adario  that  they  were  truly  and  indeed  on  a  mission  of 
peace.  Adario  affected  rage  against  J)enonville,  declaring  that  he  Wvudd  some  time 
be  revenged  on  the  French  for  making  him  a  tool,  and  for  committing  so  horrid  a 
treachery.  Then  looking  steadfiustly  on  the  prisoners,  among  whom  was  Dckanefora, 
the  head  chief  of  the  Onondaga  tribe,  "(Jo,"  said  he,  "my  brothers:  I  untie  your 
bonds,  and  send  you  home  again,  although  our  nations  be  at  war.  The  French 
governor  has  made  me  commit  so  black  an  action  that  I  shall  never  be  easy  after 
it  until  the  Five  Nations  have  taken  full  revenge."  Tiie  aniba.ssadors  were  so 
fully  pei-suaded  of  the  truth  of  his  declarations  that  they  replied  in  the  most 
friendly  terms,  and  said  the  way  was  open  to  their  concluding  a  peace.  He  then 
dismissed  his  prisoners  with  presents  of  arms,  powder,  and  ball,  keeping  but  a  single 
man  (an  adopted  Shawnee)  to  supply  the  place  A'  the  only  man  he  had  lost  in  the 
engagement.  Thus  by  one  bold  effort  he  rekindled  the  fire  of  discord  between  the 
French  and  tlieir  enemies  at  the  monwut  it  was  aUjut  to  expire,  and  at  the  same  tinu! 
laid  the  foundation  of  a  peace  with  bis  own  nation.  Adario  delivered  his  IShaw- 
nee  prisoner  to  the  French  on  reaching  .Mackinac,  who,  in  order  to  keep  up  the  old 
enmity  between  the  Wyandots  and  tiie  Five  Nations,  ordered  the  Shawnee  to  be  shot. 
On  this  ,\dario  called  up  an  Iroipiois  prisoner  who  was  a  witness  of  this  scene,  and 
who  had  long  bci'ii  detained  among  tiicni,  and  told  him  to  escape  to  his  own  country 
and  give  an  accimnt  of  the  cruelty  of  the  French,  fnmi  whom  it  was  not  in  his  power 
to  save  a  prisoner  he  had  himself  taken. 

This  trick  increased  the  rage  of  the  Five  Nations  to  such  a  pitch  that  when 
Dcnonvillc  sent  a  message  to  disown  the  act  of  Adario,  the  Indians  put  no  faith  in 
it,  lait  burned  for  revenge.  Nor  was  it  long  iK'fore  the  French  felt  the  efl'ects  of 
their  rage.  On  the  L'tith  of  .Inly,  H'lHH,  they  landed  with  twelve  hundred  men  on 
the  np|)er  end  of  the  island  of  Montieal,  and  carried  destruction  wherever  they  went. 
Houses  .vere  burned,  plantations  sacked,  and  men,  women,  and  children  massacreil. 
About  a  thousand  of  the  French  inhabitants  were  kille<l,and  twenty-six  werecarric<l 
away  prisoners,  most  of  whom  were  burned  alive.  In  ( Jctober  of  the  same  year  the 
Iroipiois  renewed  their  incursions,  sweeping  over  the  lower  |iart  of  the  island.  The 
conse(piences  of  these  inroads  were  most  disastrous  to  the  French,  who  were  thus 
reduced  to  the  lowest  point  of  tlespondency.  They  burned  tlu'ir  two  vessels  on  Ca- 
darackni  Lake,  abamloned  the  fort,  and  rdnrneil  to  Montreal.  The  news  spread  tar 
and  wide  among  the  Indians  of  the  ii|ipi'r  lakes,  who,  seeing  the  fortunes  of  the 
French  on  the  wane,  made  treaties  with  the  Fiiglisli,  and  thus  opened  the  way  for 
their  commerce  on  the  up|)er  lakes. 


i 


mmmmm 


■■■■I 


^wpa 


THE  TRIBES. 


403 


Such  were  tlie  consequences  of  a  single  enterprise,  shrewdly  planned  and  reso- 
lutely executed.  The  fame  of  its  author  spread  ahroad,  and  he  was  everywhere 
regarded  as  a  man  of  address,  courage,  and  abilities.  From  this  time  the  ancient 
feud  between  the  Wyandota  and  their  kindred,  the  Five  Nations,  began  to  die  out. 
A  few  years  afterwards,  the  Wyandots  settled  on  the  Straits  of  Detroit,  where,  up  to 
the  close  of  the  war  of  1812-15,  they  exercised  u  commanding  iniluence  among  the 
Lake  tribes,  acting  as  keepers  of  the  general  council-fire  of  the  nations. 


EKIE  OB  NEUTRAL  NATION. 

Of  the  tribes  who  have  figured  in  American  history,  and  who  have  left  their 
names  on  American  territory,  the  fate  of  none  has  excited  a  deeper  interest  than  that 
of  the  Erics,  and  they  are  j)erpetually  brought  to  remembranco  by  the  noble  lake 
which  bears  their  name.  Charlevoix  informs  us  that  they  were  exterminated  in 
1G55.  Other  authorities  place  the  event  in  1053.  The  territory  occui)ied  by  them, 
according  to  these  authors,  was  the  valley  of  the  Niagara  River.  On  its  rigiit  bank 
their  limits  extended  nearly  from  Luke  Ontario  to  Lake  Erie,  with  an  indefinite 
breadth  towards  the  Genesee  Rive.  Rut  on  it.s  left  border  they  were  found  spread- 
ing to  a  short  distance  up  Lake  Erie,  and  eastwardly  along  the  northern  shore 
of  Lake  Ontario.  According  to  the  most  moderate  computation  tliey  numbered 
twelve  thousand  souls,  and  had  four  thousand  fighting-men.  They  are  stated  to 
have  had  twenty-eight  villages,  and  twelve  large  t(»wns  or  forts.  The  country  they 
possessed  was  eminently  fertile,  yielding  the  usual  nrtiiles  of  Indian  production,  and 
it  abounded  in  all  the  game  of  its  latitude.  They  wc/c  under  the  government  of  a 
(jueen  called  Yagowanea,  otherwise  called  Gegosasa  \iy  the  French  and  Senecas.  In 
102(1,  at  the  beginning  of  the  great  efi'ort  made  by  the  French  to  civilize  and 
Christianize  th(i  Indians,  the  Eries  were  visited,  and  the  peculiarity  for  which  they 
are  most  celel)rated  was  first  brought  to  notice. 

This  peculiarity  was  the  fact  of  their  neutrality  between  fierce  and  powerful  con- 
tending nations.  Hence  they  wen^  called  b}  the  French  the  Neutral  Nation.  They 
spoke  a  dialect  of  the  Iroipiois.  I^y  ore  authority  this  is  dechired  to  have  been  u 
dialect  of  the  Huron  type  of  this  language,  while  by  another  tlie  closest  rclation- 
shij)  is  stated  to  have  been  with  tlu;  Seneca  speech.  The  neutrality  spoken  of  was 
established  between  these;  two  warring  parties  and  their  respective  allies,— or  between 
tiie  Wyandots  and  the  Five  N^'tions. 

W(;  have  .seen  that  tln'  settlement  of  Canada  by  the  French  produced  a  split  in 
the  great  InMpiois  fiimily,  the  Wyandots  adhering  to  the  Gallic  side,  and  the  Five 
Nations  to  the  Dutch  and  English.  In  this  feud  of  the  Iroquois,  the  Algenkin  tribes 
(or,  as  they  were  called  by  the  v-onlederates,  Adirond^'cks),  who  had  Iv'en  at  war  with 
tiiem  aforetime,  were  glad  to  make  allies  of  the  French  and  WyaiMots.  The  Eries 
occupied  a  ])osition  on  the  banks  of  tiie  Niagara,  geographically  intermediate  between 
the  conteniling  parties.  They  had  already,  from  propinquity  and  from  a  certain 
community  of  habits,  been  induced  to  form  a  close  alliance  with  an  Algonkin  tribe 


I      ti 


404 


77/ A'  JXDIA.Y   TRIBES  OF  THF!   UNITED   STATES. 


dwelling  on  the  west  and  north  of  Lake  Ontario,  called  Mississagics.  We  have  seen 
that  they  were  nearly  related  to  both  the  Wyandota  and  the  Five  Nations.  Neu- 
trality was  their  only  salvation.  It  was  a  delicate  position,  and  it  required  great 
wisdom  to  preserve  the  desired  neutrality.  Neuter  nations,  when  the  period  for 
action  arrives,  are  apt  to  offend  both  sides.  It  was  certainly  so  with  the  Eries.  They 
finally  offended  both  Wyandots  and  Iroquois,  but  it  was  the  latter  who  turned  upon 
them  with  groat  fury  and  power  and  in  a  short  and  sanguinary  war  extinguished 
their  nationality. 

The  veil  that  conceals  their  history  is  lifted  in  a  curious,  ill-digested,  and  obscure 
pamphlet  of  Indian  traditions,  written  by  a  semi-educated  Tuscarora,  and  jirinted  in 
the  ancient  country  of  the  Iroquois  (Western  New  Yt)rk)  in  1825.  According  to 
this  account,  the  war  was  caused  by  an  act  of  perfidy.  Yogowauea,  the  queen  of  the 
Eries,  was  in  some  respects  another  Zenobia.  She  is  called  the  Mother  of  Nations. 
Her  wanij)uni  and  peace-pipe  wore  held  sacred.  The  central  point  of  her  power  was 
a  place  called  Kienuka,  on  the  Niagara  llidge,  and  not  very  far  from  the  present 
village  of  Tuscarora.  Protected  by  the  sanctity  of  her  character  and  office  as  keeper 
of  the  symbolic  house  of  peace,  she  had  a  contiguous  edifice,  where  she  received  mes- 
sengers and  ambassadors  from  the  Five  Nations,  Wyandots,  Mississagics,  and  others. 
It  is  evident  tliat  her  authority  extended  not  only  to  the  <bot  of  Lake  Erie,  where 
the  strongest  fort,  called  Kaukathay,  Wiis  Seated,  but  across  tl  e  Niagara  River,  and 
along  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario,  where  an  outrage  occurred,  which  she  caused  sum- 
marily to  be  j>i'ui;ilicd,  l)ut  wliicii  led  to  the  tiital  breach  of  tlie  peace.  The  circum- 
stances were  these.  Two  C'anandaigua  (Seneca)  warriors  liad  been  received,  and  had 
begun  to  smoke  the  peace-pipe,  when  a  deputation  of  Mississagics  from  the  nortii 
of  the  Niagara  was  announcfcd.  The  new-comers  intbrmcd  her  that  the  two  Seneca 
warriors  Iiad  just  returned  from  the  assassination  of  the  son  of  their  principal  Mis- 
sissagic  chief.  They  demanded  tiie  right  of  blood,  and  this  demand  was  grantetl,  in 
violation  of  the  sanctity  of  the  refuge  which  the  Seneciis  had  sought.  Tiie  visitors 
were  given  up  to  the  Mississagics  and  executed  by  them.  Intelligence  of  this  viola- 
tion of  the  <|tieen's  office  spread  in  every  direction.  The  InKjuois  tribes,  who  were  tiu' 
aggriev(vl  pai'ty,  fhnv  instantly  to  arms.  Tlie  (juecn  despatched  messengers  to  Onon- 
daga to  explain  her  positi.in,  and  to  Ka<pu».tka  (the  modern  Ihil'lalo),  where  the  prin- 
cipal commander  of  the  Eries  resided.  She  also  sent  messengers  to  form  an  alliance 
witii  a  powerful  savage  tribe,  called  Waranakanma  (prol)ably  the  Antlastes),  who 
were  encamped  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Erie.  She  went  herself  to  Kaquatka,  and 
raised  a  very  large  force,  which  proceede<l  rapidly  towards  the  (jienesee  River. 

The  iirst  battle  took  place  at  the  CJcnesee  River,  between  fifteen  luindred  Senecas 
under  Shorikowani,  and  a  large  force  of  the  Eries,  who  were  defeated,  l.'aving  six 
huudrod  warriors  slain  on  the  field.  Shorikowani,  at  the  head  of  five  th(aisaml  war- 
riors, t'onsisting  of  Onondagas  and  other  Southern  tribes,  then  attacked  the  Erie 
Htroiij,hold  at  Kaipiatka.  The  place  was  bravely  ilefended,  and  after  the  fall  of  the 
Seneca  leader,  who  was  killed  by  an  arrow,  the  <|Ueen  proposed  terms  of  ,/eace,  which 
were  accepted,  and  the  Eries  were  lell  in  full  possession  of  the  country.   This  first  war 


CATAWBAS. 


Koccnt  research  denotes  that  tlic  word  Catawba  is  not  of  much  antiquity,  and 
cannot  be  relied  on  as  a  •!;'iidc  in  the  investif^ation  ot"  tlie  early  history  of  the  tribe 
tiiiis  desif^nated.  It  appears  to  have  been  bestowed,  before  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  by  some  tribe  speakin<^  the  Alf^onkin  language,  in  which  the  final 
syllables,  awba,  mean  "  male."  The  Catawbtu?  jwssessed,  from  the  earliest  notices,  a 
fixed  character  for  indomitable  courage  and  consummate  art  in  forest  life. 

In  an  apparently  authentic  manuscript  memoir  of  their  traditions  in  the  official 
archives  of  South  Carolina,  a  copy  of  wliich  is  given  tiirthcr  on,  they  are  state  l  to 
be  a  Northern  trilw,  having  been  driven,  about  1(550,  under  a  very  perilous  stat-  of 
their  affairs,  from  the  liiu'  of  tlie  fJreat  Lakes,  by  tiieir  inveterate  enemies  the  Ccmne- 
wangos.  This  statement  may  perhaps  identify  them  with  the  Neutral  Nation  or 
Krii-s. 

The  Connewango  River  enters  the  Alleghany  River  on  the  north,  from  the  Great 
Valley,  and  is  the  ultimate  outlet  of  ('hautau(iua  Lake,  through  which  an  important 


77/A'   TRIBES. 


405 


is  said  to  have  ended  in  1634.  The  final  war,  which  overwhelmed  the  Eries,  and  in 
which  the  whole  Iroquois  confederacy  took  part,  lasted  two  years,  and  closed  in 
1655.  Several  severe  battles  were  fought,  the  decisive  struggle  having  taken  place 
on  Buffalo  and  Ten-Mile  Creeks. 

The  result  of  the  war  might  still  have  been  doubtful  against  a  people  who  were 
once  estimated  at  twelve  thousand  fighting-men,  had  it  not  been  for  a  pestilence  which 
prevailed  in  the  country  near  the  Niagara,  and  swept  off  greater  numbers  than  even 
the  club  or  the  arrow. 

Seneca  tradition  affirms  tl.at  after  the  defeat  of  the  most  westerly  bodies  of  the 
Eries,  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie,  the  survivors  made  their  way  to  the  Alleghany 
River,  down  which  they  fled.  Some  of  the  French  missionary  authors  distinctly 
state  that  portions  of  the  tribe  were  incorporated  with  the  Iroquois,  and  that  the 
Eries  constituted  an  element  in  the  Iroquois  missions,  and  indeed  founded  the  mis- 
sion of  La  Prairie,  near  the  city  of  Quebec.  Their  council-fire  was,  in  accordance 
with  the  threat  of  the  Onondaga  council,  put  out.  Their  name  was  obliterated  from 
the  number  of  tribes.  The  i)laces  where  they  once  dwelt  knew  them  no  more.  The 
once  sacred  peace-lodge  of  Yogowanea  was  demolished,  and  the  tribe  has  no  monu- 
ment to  carry  its  memory  to  distant  ages  except  the  name  it  has  given  to  Lake  Erie. 

Researches  among  the  ancient  missionary  authors  supply  a  chain  of  testimony 
which  W!is  before  incomplete,  showing  that  the  long-lost  "  Neuter  Nation"  of  the 
French  missionary  fathers  was  indeed  the  Eries,  whose  history  and  fortunes  we  have 
sketch.ed.  It  is  not  inconsistent  with  this  view  to  believe  that  some  fragmentary 
portions  of  the  tribe,  unwilling  to  submit  to  so  severe  a  fate,  fled  to  distant  regions 
in  the  West  and  South,  as  is  a.ssertcd  by  Evans  and  Jefferson.  Certain  it  is,  however, 
that  wherever  they  went  they  were  foUoweil  by  the  undying  hatred  of  the  Iroquois, 
and  their  name  and  lineage  as  a  tribe  are  lost. 


I     i 


If-:" 


m 
m 


400 


r///;  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


ancient  line  of  Indian  navi^ntion  extended  to  Lake  Erie.  Ciiautanqna  Lake  draws 
its  waters  from  a  sonrcc  within  seven  miles  of  the  sonthern  borders  of  Lake  Erie, 
The  Indians  who  occui)ied  this  region  were  Seneca  Iroqnois,  and  bore,  it  appears 
fi'om  this  tradition,  the  local  appellation  of  Connewangos.  The  Connewango  is  a 
co2)ious  stream,  and  is  one  of  the  true  sources  of  the  Ohio.  The  descendants  of  this 
branch  of  Senegas,  wJio  also  occupietl  the  Olean  fork,  constitute,  in  part,  the  modern 
band  of  Corn-JManter,  and  still  live  near  Warren,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  Alleghany, 
Imt  others  live  at  Teonegono,  or  Coldspring,  on  the  Seneca  Reserve. 

After  the  destruction  and  dispersion  of  the  Neuter  Nation,  or  the  Eries,  by  the 
Irocpiois,  a  more  serious  war,  with  a  more  considerable  and  a  more  remotely  affiliated 
])eople,  arose.  The  Andastes,  or  Giiandostagues,  occupied  the  area  lying  immediately 
west  of  the  country  of  the  Neuter  Nation,  comprising  a  tract  between  the  Niagara 
liiver  and  Buffalo  Creek,  extending  to  the  head-waters  of  the  Alleghany. 

The  people  in  (piestion  were,  it  is  b(^lieved,  called  Kahquiis  by  the  Senecjis.  It 
is  inferable  from  Cusic,  and  from  the  French  missionary  authors,  that  the  Andastes, 
or  Kaliquas,  who  were  of  remotely  kindred  blood,  sympathized  with  the  Eries  and 
Attionaiularons  in  their  recent  misfortunes,  and  gave  them  secret  aid  in  the  war.  The 
Iroquois  now  turned  upon  the  Kahquas  with  the  uplifled  tomahawk.  A  bloody  and 
long-continued  war  ensued,  which  was  not  terminated  till  1072, — full  sivtoen  years 
from  its  commencement, — when  the  Kalupias  also  were  subdued  and  exi)olled  from 
the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie.  There  is  no  local  evidence  now,  except  that  pre- 
sented by  old  ditches  and  embankments,  and  antiquarian  relics,  to  show  that  these 
tribes  ever  inhabited  the  country. 

The  survivors  of  the  tribe  tied,  and  were  pursued  to  the  Alleghany  liiver,  where 
they  took  shelter  on  an  island.  Here,  partly  through  the  finesse  of  the  Seneciis,  they 
were  again  defeated,  and  tliey  linidly  iled  down  the  Alleghany  River,  and  have  never 
since  appeareil  in  history. 

It  is  precisi'ly  at  this  point  that  the  Carolina  tradition  of  the  Catawbas  picks  up 
the  history  of  tiiat  enigmatical  j)eoj»le,  who  existed  as  an  anomaly  among  the  South- 
ern Indians.  Admitting  their  fliglit  down  the  Alleghany  River  from  Lake  Erie, 
under  the  name  already  denoted,  and  the  vindictiveness  witii  which  they  were  pur- 
sued by  the  Connewango  Senecas,  as  events  satisfactorily  esJablished  by  concurrent 
Indian  traditions,  it  only  remains  to  determine  wlicllier  the  Catawbas  are  descendants 
of  the  Auionandarons  or  Neuters,  the  Eries  or  Cat  Nation,  or  the  Andastes  or 
Kaiiqua-s.  The  date  (1()")())  of  the  tradition  j)reserve<i  in  the  Carolina  manuscript 
agrees  pretty  well  with  the  era  of  the  ubjugatioii  of  tlie  Neuter  Nation  of  Niagara  and 
of  the  Eries  of  Liikf  Erie.  Acording  to  one  authority,  the  a.ssauit  upon  tiie  main 
citadil  of  tlie  Neuters  took  place  in  IO.jI,  and  all  tlie  autliorities  coincide  in  fixing 
on  lOoo  »w  the  d«U'  of  the  termimition  of  the  war  witii  the  latter  tribe.  The  war 
with  the  Kaliqu:is  In-gan  tiie  next  year,  but  tlieir  expulsion  did  not  occur  until  after 
the  lapse  of  -'xteen  or  seventeen  years.  In  the  mean  time,  the  reiiuiants  of  the  two 
first  c<  .  nations  dcd,  na  this  document  states,  at  first  to  Virginia,  and  llnuUy  to 

the  Carol  inas. 


;i  '", 


THE  TRIBES. 


407 


CAROLINA    MANUHCRIPT   RESPECTING   THE   ORIGIN   OF   THE   CATAWBA8. 

The  Ciitiiwbus  were  a  Ciiniuliaii  tribe.  The  ConnewangOH  were  their  licrcditary 
enemies,  and,  with  the  aid  of  tiie  Freiieh,  they  Hcenied  likely  at  last  to  overwhelm 
them.  Tlu!  Catawbas,  judging  correctly  of  their  perilous  condition,  determined  on 
a  removal  to  the  vicinity  of  the  English  settlements.  They  set  out  from  their  ancient 
homes  about  the  year  1G5(),  crossed  the  St.  Lawrence,  probably  near  Detroit,  and 
bore  for  the  liead-waters  of  the  Kentucky  River.  The  Conncwangos  all  the  time 
kept  ill  full  pursuit.  The  fugitives,  embarnLssed  with  their  women  and  children, 
and  finding  that  their  enemies  would  overtake  thenj,  chose  a  position  near  the  sources 
of  the  Kentucky,  and  awaited  the  onset  of  their  more  powerful  adversaries.  Turning 
upon  their  pursuers,  with  the  energy  which  desj)eration  sometimes  inspires,  they  in- 
llicted  upon  them  a  terrible  defeat.  This  little  nation,  after  their  great  victory, 
without  regard  to  policy,  divided  into  two  bands,  one  of  which  remained  on  the  Ken- 
tucky Iliver,  which  was  called  by  the  hunters  the  Catawba,  and  this  band  was  in 
time  absorbed  into  the  great  families  of  tiie  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws.  The  other 
band  settled  in  Botetourt  County,  Virginia,  upon  a  stream  afterwards  called  Catawba 
Creek.  They  remained  there  but  a  few  years.  Their  hunters,  pressing  on  to  the 
south,  discovered  the  Catawba  River,  in  Houth  Carolina  (Eswau  Ti'vora),  and  about 
the  y«'ar  KidO  the  entire  V^irginia  band  came  in  a  body  to  effect  a  permanent  settle- 
ment on  that  stream.  Tradition  states  that  the  Cherokces,  who  claimed  to  be  the 
true  aborigines  of  the  country,  considering  the  Catawbas  as  invaders  of  their  soil 
and  freehold,  inarched  in  great  force  to  meet  them  at  or  near  the  Old  Nation  Ford, 
and  a  battle  ensued  between  these  two  brave  and  tlcterniined  peoples,  which  lasted 
nearly  an  entire  day.  In  the  early  part  of  the  r-ngagement,  the  Catawbiis,  having 
lire-arms,  gained  a  decided  advantage,  but  in  the  Ititter  part  the  Cherokees  changed 
the  fortune  of  the  batth-  by  superior  numl)ers.  It  is  said  that  the  Cherokees  lost 
eleven  hundred  men,  and  the  Catawbas  about  one  thousand.  Victorj'  hung  in  the 
balance,  but  the  parties  renuiined  on  the  field,  and  it  was  expected  the  strife  would 
be  renewed  on  the  following  day.  Early  in  the  morning,  however,  the  Cherokees  sent 
a  deputation  to  the  Catawbas,  lauding  their  bravery,  saluting  them  as  brothers,  and 
offering  them  a  settlement  anywhere  upon  the  northeast  side  of  the  river.  Hostilities 
ceased,  a  permanent  peace  was  agreed  upon,  and  to  preserve  it  Broad  River  was 
established  as  the  dividing  line  southwestwardly,  the  intermediate  country  being 
declared  neutral  ground.  Tradition  holds  that  a  pile  of  stones,  monumental  of 
the  battle,  was  i  I'ccted  on  the  ground  where  it  occurred.  No  account  of  this  contesi 
appears  in  any  printed  work  from  the  time  of  Adair  to  that  of  Ramsay,  or  in  any 
authentic  maiuiscript.  It  is  certain,  Iiowever,  tliat  tlie  Catawbas  did  settle  on  thi 
northeast  of  the  Catawba  River,  that  tlu'v  had  fire-arms,  that  the  country  Wtween 
the  Broad  Iliver  and  the  Catawba  was  occujiied  by  lU'ither  nation  and  presenteil 
fewer  marks  of  ownership  than  any  otiitr  porlinn  of  the  iState,  and  that  Broad 
River  wa«  called  by  the  Catawbas  Hswau  lIuppeday,or  Line  River.    The  two  latter 


• 


408 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBKS  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


circumstances  indicate  a  treaty,  and  in  all  probability  they  were  the  result  of  a  bloody 
contest  and  a  drawn  battle. 

The  division  of  the  tribe  after  the  Cherokee  war  will  account  for  a  large  diminu- 
tion of  the  numbers  of  the  Catawba  nation.  They  were  scarcely  settled  in  their  new 
abode  when  they  fell  upon  a  band  of  the  Waxhaws,  who  occupied  the  country  about 
Waxhaw  and  Cane  Creeks,  in  the  county  of  Lancaster,  South  Carolina.  There,  it  is 
said,  after  a  noble  resistance  in  their  stronghold,  the  remains  of  which  are  still  to  be 
seen,  the  Waxhaws  were  cut  off  to  a  man.  The  >lorthern  Indians,  acting  under 
French  influence,  occasionally  hung  upon  the  Catawba  settlements,  and  carried  on 
against  them  a  sort  of  predatory  and  irregular  warfare.  A  few  warriors  from  time 
to  time  fell  in  these  guerilla  contests,  which  were  kept  up  for  many  years.  The 
hatred  of  the  French  towards  the  Catawlnis  may  be  judged  of  from  the  fact  that,  iw 
late  as  17u3,  the  Canadian  authorities  determined  to  extirpate  them,  and  that  the 
Connewangos  declared,  in  a  great  council  at  Albany  which  was  held  about  this  time, 
that  they  never  would  make  friends  with  the  Catawbius  while  the  grass  grew  or  the 
waters  ran. 

When  Colonel  Barnwell,  about  the  year  1720,  was  sent  against  the  Tuscaronis, 
who  had  broken  up  New-IJerne,  then  just  founded  by  the  Baron  De  Graffenreid, 
uj)ward8  of  one  hundred  Cutawba.s  accompanied  him.  A  few  warriors  fell  in  the 
prosecution  of  that  admirably-conducted  expedition.  In  the  campaign  against  the 
Cherokees,  during  the  govcmorsliip  of  II.  W.  Littleton,  undertaken  without  cause, 
except  the  gratiiication  of  \m  excellency's  heartless  and  guilty  vanity,  about  one 
hundred  Catawba.s  marched  under  the  Colonial  flag,  and  several  fell  in  different 
skirmishes.  This  disgraceful  campaign  was  unsuccessful,  as  it  deserved  to  be.  About 
17513,  Governor  Dinwiildie  sent  a  message  to  the  Catawbas  to  induce  them  to  unite 
their  forces  with  the  militia  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Washingtcm.  They 
j)romptiy  agreed  to  do  so,  but  were  restrained  l)y  tiie  Carolina  governor  (Glen),  who 
reminded  tiiem  that  peace  was  their  true  policy,  as  they  were  a  little  nation,  so  mucii 
hiid  their  ranks  been  thinned,  even  at  that  early  day,  by  war.  During  an  attack 
upon  Sullivan's  Island  a  full  company  of  Catawlnis,  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Thompson,  participated  in  its  defence.  But,  as  tlie  British  general  on  Long  Island 
entertained  strange  suspicions  about  the  colonel's  eighteen-pounder,  the  loss  of  tiic 
(jitawbas  was  inconsiderable.  A  company  of  Catawbas  man'iied  under  Colonel 
Williamson  in  his  Ciierokee  expedition,  during  which  a  few  of  their  number  jut- 
ished.  The  Catawbas  were  always  ready  to  engage  in  the  American  service,  and 
always  accpjitted  themselves  like  brave  soldiers.  The  nation  was  greatly  reduced,  in 
the  early  st;igc  of  tlie  Revolution,  by  the  smallpox.  The  Indians  adopted  a  practite 
common  to  all  the  altorigiiial  tribes  for  the  cure  of  this  di.sease,  of  thoroughly  steam- 
ing themselves  and  then  j)lunging  into  tin-  river.  By  rea.son  of  this  malpractice 
hundreds  of  them  died.  Indet'd,  i\w  woods  were  offensive  with  the  dead  bodies  of 
the  Indians,  and  dogs,  wolves,  and  vultures  were  so  busy  for  moiilhs  in  baiujueting 
on  them  that  tli(T  would  scarcely  reheat  from  their  prey  when  approaelied  by  mim. 
Ju  fact,  so  greatly  were  the  Catawbas  thinned  by  this  malady,  that  at  the  close  of  the 


THE   TRIBES. 


409 


war,  by  the  advice  of  their  wliite  friends,  they  invited  tlie  Choraw  Indians  to  come 
and  form  a  union  witii  them.  The  present  nation  is  about  e(iually  composed  of 
(/'atawbas  and  Cheraws.  They  have  lived  in  great  harmony.  The  Clieraws  have 
retained  a  knowledge  of  their  own  language,  but  ordinarily  use  the  Catawba. 

Among  the  causes  whidi  tended  to  diminish  the  numbers  of  the  Catawba  nation, 
we  have  mentioned  their  wars  and  skirmishes  on  their  own  account,  their  adherence 
to  the  military  fortunes  of  their  white  friends,  and  the  ravages  of  the  smallpox. 
Other  causes  were  the  intemperate  use  of  ardent  spirits;  the  loss  of  their  game 
through  the  encroachments  of  the  white  hunters;  the  assassination  of  their  great  chief, 
King  Ilagler,  by  a  few  Shawnees,  about  17(50  (so  im|)ortant  is  the  life  of  an  indi- 
vidual sometimes  to  a  whole  peo])le)  ;  the  fact  of  their  being  encircled  on  every 
side  by  a  much  more  powerful  and  energetic  race,  whereby  a  sense  of  inferiority 
and  depression  was  kept  up  among  them  ;  and,  above  all,  impolitic  legi>lation,  which 
gave  them  permission  to  leai;e  their  lands  for  long  periods,  a  measure  which  entailed 
ui)on  them  a  miserable  subsistence,  although  it  exempted  them  from  labor. 

In  the  year  1735  the  nation  had  in  reservation  only  thirty  acres  of  their  once 
large  and  fertile  territory,  not  a  foot  of  which  was  in  cultivation.  In  his  "History 
of  South  Carolina,"  llamsay  solemnly  invokes  the  people  of  that  State  to  cherish 
this  small  remnant  of  a  noble  race,  always  the  friends  of  the  Carolinians,  and  always 
ready  to  peril  all  for  the  safety  of  the  whites.  They  never  have  shed  a  drop  of 
American  blood,  nor  stolen  property  to  the  value  of  a  cent.  They  have  lost  every- 
thing but  their  honesty.  Ilsigler  was  a  great  man,  and  the  nation  still  speak  of  him 
with  much  reverence.  He  was  succeeded  by  King  Prow,  or  Frow,  who  reigned  but 
a  short  time.  On  his  death,  Cieneral  Newriver,  who  had  gained  a  splendid  victory 
on  New  River,  in  Virginia,  over  the  Northern  Indians,  was  called  to  rule  over  them, 
the  tribe  having  determined,  in  imitation  of  their  white  brethren,  to  rej)udiate  royalty. 
Newriver  was  succeeded  by  CJeneral  Scott,  and  the  latter  by  Colonel  Ayres.  Scott 
was  a  considerable  man.  The  old  set  of  Catawbas  were  a  likely  peoi)le ;  Major 
( 'antry,  for  example,  was  a  noble  sj>eciincn  of  a  man. 


m 

lill 
>/;  ;l 


i\     ' 


ATIIAIIASCAS. 

This  name  has  been  a{)plied  to  a  class  of  tribes  who  live  to  the  north  of  the  great 
(.'iHirchill  Iviver,  and  bc^yond  the  source  of  the  North  Fork  of  the  Saskatchewan, 
their  country  extending  westward  to  within  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  and  including  most  of  Alaska  and  a  large  area  in  the  Canadian 
dominion.  Excopt  the  Krtsjiiimaux,  along  the  coast  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  the 
IjOo-C/Iioos,  all  the  tribes  within  this  wide  boundary  speak  dialects  of  the  same 
generic  language.  Without  counting  the  Loo-Choos,  the  thirteen  Athaba.scan  tribes 
are  estimated  to  number  about  twelve  thousand  semis.  The  grouping  of  these  tribes 
at  points  of  latitudi'  north  of  the  utmost  line  to  which  the  Algonkin  family  has 
reaihed,  forms  a  convenient  basis  for  reference.  The  name  is  derived  arbitrarily 
iVom   Lake  Athabiusca,  which  is  often  ealled  the  l^ake  of  the  Hills.     Surrounding 


s  i^ 


II 

I 


sh? 


410 


r///:  INDIAN  Til  in  E^  of  tiik  united  states. 


tliis  lake,  wo  find  the  tribe  of  the  Cliippewyans,  a  people  so  called  by  the  Kenistenos 
nnd  Chipi)ewas  because  they  were  found  to  be  clothed,  in  some  ancient  and  tradition- 
ary encounter,  in  a  Hcanty  garb  made  of  the  marten's  or  fisher's  nkin.'  According 
to  Sir  John  Franklin,  they  call  thcmHclvcH  >Siiw-(rnK(tir-<l!nnn/i,  or  KiHing-sun-men ; 
or,  as  the  phrase  seems  to  mean,  People  who  face  the  rising  sun.  They  number 
about  four  thousand  souls,  and  sj)eak  a  language  of  a  peculiar  character.  This  lan- 
guage forms  the  type  of  the  group.  The  trib(«  who  use  it  appear  to  have  migrated 
from  the  west,  since  it  is  known  from  observations  published  by  Mr.  Harmon  {vide 
Travels)  that  the  Tucullics  an<l  some  kindred  trilx's,  among  whom  he  sojourned  in 
Hritish  Columbia,  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  for  several  years,  speak  the  Atha- 
bascan language. 

We  are  informed  by  Mackenzie  that  the  territory  occupied  by  the  Cliippewyans 
extends  between  the  j)arallels  of  (10°  and  05°  north,  and  the  meridians  of  l(K)°  and 
110°  west.  lie  allirms  that  the  language  is  traceable  directly  to  the  head-waters  of 
Peace  River,  the  great  Unjiga  of  the  natives,  and  up  that  river  and  over  its  con- 
necting portages  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  northern  sources  of  the 
Columbia,  which  it  follows  down  to  latitude  42°  24',  where  it  comes  into  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Atnah  or  Chin  nation.  From  this  point  he  describes  the  language 
as  diffusing  itself  towards  the  sca-coiist,  along  which  the  country  is  possessed  by  a 
people  who  speak  a  dialect  of  the  language,  and  who  are  consequently  supposed  to 
be  of  the  Athabascan  stock.  There  can  l)e  little  doubt  of  the  prehistoric  migrations 
of  this  race  having  been  towards  the  east.  A  tribe  of  Athabascans  is  even  known 
to  live  near  the  upper  .settlements  on  the  Saskatchewan." 

It  is  not  possible  to  form  any  Just  estimate  of  their  numbers;  but  it  is  certain 
that  they  are  by  no  means  proi)ortionate  to  the  vast  extent  of  their  territories,  u  fact 
which  may  in  .some  degree  be  attributed  to  the  ravages  of  the  smallpox  throughout 
this  part  of  the  continent. 

The  notion  which  these  i)eople  entertain  of  the  creation  is  of  a  very  singular 
nature.  They  believe  that  at  the  first  the  gloln*  wius  one  va.st  ocean,  inbabite<l  by 
no  living  creatun*  except  a  mighty  bird,  whose  eyes  wi-re  lire,  whose  gland's  were 
lightning,  and  the  dapping  of  whose  wings  w;is  thunder.  On  his  descent  to  the 
ocean,  the  earth  instantly  arose,  and  reinained  on  the  surface  of  the  waters.  This 
omnipotent  i)ird  then  called  forth  all  the  variety  of  animals  from  the  earth,  except 
the  C'liijipewyans,  who  were  produced  from  a  dog;  and  this  circumstance  occasions 
their  avei-sion  to  the  fiesh  of  that  animal,  as  well  as  to  the  people  who  eat  it.  The 
tradition  proceeds  to  relate  that  the  great  bird,  having  finished  his  work,  made  an 
arrow  which  was  to  be  preserved  with  great  care  and  t(»  remain  untouched,  but  that 
the  Cliippewyans  were  wicked  enough  to  carry  it  away,  and  the  sacrilege  so  enraged 
the  great  bird  that  he  has  never  since  apjx'ared. 

'  From  ojeeg,  a  fisher,  uiid  iryan,  n  Kkiii. 

'  Analojiiia  have  been  olwerved  bctweon  this  laii^iia^^ii  ami  that  of  the  Apaches  of  Arizona,  who  trice 
tlicir  (irij;in  to  the  north.  The  whole  khIijccI  of  the  n-lalionsliip  of  this  Athaha.scan  race  is  more  fully 
disciis^il  ill  the  section  on  the  Alaskan  tribes. 


;*•-■: 


TtlH   TRIUES. 


411 


Thoy  have  also  a  tradition  among  thoni  that  they  originally  came  from  another 
country,  inhabitcii  by  very  wicked  people,  and  that  they  traverned  a  great  lake, 
which  wiiH  narrow,  Hhallow,  and  full  of  inlands,  where  they  had  Hutfered  great  miHery, 
it  being  always  winter,  with  ice  and  deep  snow.  At  the  Copper-Mine  lliver,  where 
they  made  the  first  land,  the  ground  wtw  covered  with  copper,  over  which  a  body  of 
earth  had  since  been  collected  to  the  depth  of  u  man's  height.  They  believe,  also, 
that  in  ancient  times  their  ancestors  lived  till  their  feet  were  worn  out  with  walking, 
and  their  throats  with  eating.  They  describe  a  deluge,  when  the  waters  spread  over 
the  whole  earth,  except  the  highest  mountains,  ou  the  tops  of  which  they  preserved 
themselves. 

They  believe  that  immediately  after  death  they  paxs  into  another  world,  where 
they  arrive  at  a  large  river,  on  which  they  embark  in  a  stone  canoe;  that  a  gentle 
current  bears  them  on  to  an  extensive  lake,  in  the  centre  of  which  is  a  beautiful 
island;  and  that  in  the  vicinity  of  this  delightful  abode  they  receive  that  judgment 
for  their  conduct  during  life  which  determines  their  final  state.  If  their  good  actions 
are  declared  to  predominate,  they  are  landed  upon  the  island,  where  there  is  to  bo 
no  end  to  their  enjoyment  of  sensual  pleiusure  and  carnal  gratification  ;  but  if  tli(;ir 
bad  actions  weigh  down  the  balance,  the  stone  canoe  sinks  at  once,  and  leaves  theiu 
up  to  their  chins  in  the  water,  to  behold  and  regret  the  reward  enjoyed  by  the  good, 
eternally  struggling,  with  unavailing  endeavors,  to  reach  the  blissful  island  from 
which  they  are  exeludeil  forever. 

They  have  some  faint  notions  of  a  transmigration  of  the  soul ;  and  if  a  child  is 
born  with  teeth,  they  imagine  that  it  bears  a  resemblance  to  some  person  who  had 
lived  to  an  advanced  period,  and  that  he  hius  assumed  a  renovated  life,  with  these 
extraordinary  tokens  of  maturity. 

The  Chippewyans  are  sober,  timorous,  and  vagrant,  with  a  selfish  disposition, 
which  has  sometimes  created  suspicions  of  their  integrity.  Their  stature  has  nothing 
remarkable  in  it,  and,  though  they  are  seldom  corpulent,  they  are  sometimes  robust. 
Their  complexion  is  swarthy,  their  features  coarse,  and  their  hair  lank,  but  not 
always  of  a  <lingy  black ;  nor  have  they  universally  the  piercing  eye  which  generally 
animates  the  Indian  countenance.  The  women  have  a  more  agreeable  aspect  than 
the  men,  but  their  gait  is  awkward,  a  circumstance  which  arises  from  their  being 
accustomed,  nine  months  in  the  year,  to  travel  on  snow-shoes  and  drag  sledges 
weighing  from  two  to  four  hundred  pounds.  They  arc  very  submissive  to  their  hus- 
bands, who  have,  however,  occiusional  fit.s  of  jealousy  and  for  very  trifling  causes 
treat  them  with  such  cruelty  as  sometimes  to  occlusion  their  death.  They  are  fre- 
(juently  objects  of  traffic,  and  the  father  possesses  the  right  of  disposing  of  his 
daughter.'  The  men  in  general  extract  their  beards,  though  some  of  them  are  seen 
to  prefer  a  rusliy  black  beard  to  a  smooth  chin.  They  cut  their  hair  in  various 
forma,  or  have  it  m  a  long,  natural  flow,  according  as  caprice  or  fancy  may  suggest. 


'  Tlioy  do  i;.il,  linvvovcr,  sell  thorn  ns  slaves,  but  as  couipauions  to  llnwo  who  arc  supiiu.-ioJ  to  live  moro 
(■oiiirnrt;ililv  than  themselves. 


i 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


A 


V   ^  /..  ^r 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


U£|2.8 


■16 


!■■ 


Sim" 


2.5 


2.2 


^       2.0 


1.4 


1.8 


1.6 


6" 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STR!<;<iT 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  M580 

(716)  872-4503 


412 


TIIK  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  TUB   UNITED  STATES. 


1  f 


I. 

f 


The  women  ivlways  wear  it  in  great  length,  and  some  of  them  are  very  attentive  to 
its  arrangement.  If  they  at  any  time  appear  despoiled  of  their  tresses,  it  is  to  be 
esteemed  a  i^roof  of  the  husband's  jealousy,  and  is  considered  sis  a  severer  punish- 
ment than  manual  correction.  Both  sexes  have  blue  or  black  bars,  or  from  one  to 
four  straight  lines,  on  their  cheeks  or  foreheads,  to  denote  the  tribe  to  which  they 
belong.  These  marks  are  either  tattooed,  or  made  by  drawing  beneath  the  skin  a 
thread  dipped  in  the  necessary  color. 

There  are  no  jicople  more  attentive  to  the  comforts  of  their  dress,  or  less  anxious 
respecting  its  exterior  appearance.  In  the  winter  it  is  comjjosed  of  the  skins  of 
deer  and  fawns,  dressed  as  fine  as  chamois  leather,  but  tanneil  in  the  hair.  In  the 
summer  their  apparel  is  the  same,  except  that  it  is  jirepared  without  the  hair.  Their 
shoes  and  leggings  are  sewed  together,  the  latter  covering  both  leg  and  thigh,  and 
being  supported  l)y  a  belt,  under  which  a  small  piece  of  leather  is  drawn  to  cover  the 
private  parts,  and  the  ends  of  the  leather  fall  down  both  before  and  behind.  In 
their  shoes  they  put  the  hair  of  the  moose  or  reindeer,  with  additional  pieces  of 
leather  as  socks.  The  shirt  or  coat  when  girded  round  the  waist  reaches  to  the  middle 
of  the  thighs,  and  the  mittens  are  sewed  to  the  sleeves  or  are  suspended  by  strings 
from  the  shoulders.  A  ruff  or  tijipet  surrounds  the  neck,  and  the  skin  of  the  head 
of  the  deer  forms  a  curious  kind  of  cap.  A  robe  made  of  several  deer  or  fawn  skins 
sewed  together  covers  the  whole.  This  dress  is  worn  single  or  double,  but  always  in 
the  winter  with  the  hair  within  and  without.  Tims  arrayed,  a  Chippewyan  will  lie 
down  on  the  ice  in  the  middle  of  a  lake  and  repose  in  comfort,  though  lie  will  some- 
times find  it  difficult  in  the  morning  to  disencumber  himself  from  the  snow  drifted 
on  him  during  the  night.  If  in  his  journeys  he  should  be  in  want  of  provisions, 
he  cuts  a  hole  in  the  ice,  when  he  seldom  fails  of  taking  some  trout  or  i)ike,  whose 
eyes  he  instantly  scoops  out  and  eats  tis  a  great  delicacy,  and  if  they  should  not  be 
sufiicient  to  satisfy  his  appetite  he  will  make  his  meal  of  the  fish  in  its  raw  state; 
but  they  prefer  to  cook  their  victuals  when  circumstances  admit  of  the  necessary 
I)reparation.  ^\'hen  they  are  in  that  part  of  tlieir  country  which  does  not  produce 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  wood  for  fuel,  they  are  reduced  to  the  same  exigency,  though 
they  generally  dry  tlieir  meat  in  the  sun.' 

The  dress  of  the  women  diffijrs  from  that  of  the  men.     Their  leggings  arc  tied 


'  The  provision  called  pciuniivnn,  on  which  the  Chippcwyans,  as  well  an  tho  other  savaf^cs  of  this  country, 
fhiofly  suh>ist  in  timir  journeys,  is  preparod  in  the  following  manner.  Tlie  lean  purls  of  the  flesh  of  tliu 
hirgcr  animals  are  cnt  in  lliin  slices,  and  are  placed  on  u  woodi^n  j;ratc  over  a  slow  fire,  or  exposed  to  the  sun, 
and  sometimes  to  the  frost.  These  operations  dry  it,  and  in  the  dry  state  it  is  pounded  hetween  two  8tuno«; 
it  will  then  keep,  with  care,  for  several  ycsirs.  If,  however,  it  is  ki'pt  in  large  (piantitics,  it  is  apt  to  fer- 
ment in  the  .^iiring  of  the  year,  when  it  must  he  expo.scd  to  the  air,  or  it  will  soon  decay.  The  insi<le  fal, 
with  that  of  the  rump,  which  is  much  thicker  in  these  wilil  animals  than  in  our  domcrtie  ones,  is  melted 
down  and  mixed,  in  a  hoiling  state,  with  the  jaiuiided  meat  in  ecjual  proportions ;  it  is  then  put  in  ha.skels 
or  hags,  for  convenience  in  carrying.  Thus  it  becomes  a  nutritions  food,  and  may  bo  eaten  without  any 
further  preparaticm,  or  with  the  addition  of  spice,  salt,  or  any  vegetablii  or  firinaeeius  substance  A  liilio 
time  n^conciles  it  to  the  palate.  There  is  another  sort  made  with  the  a<ldition  of  marrow  and  dried  berries, 
vhich  is  of  a  snperiur  (piality. 


TUE  TRIBES. 


413 


below  the  knee,  and  their  coat  or  shift  is  wide,  lianging  down  to  the  ankle,  and  being 
tucked  up  at  pleasure  by  means  of  a  belt  which  is  fastened  round  the  waist.  Those 
who  have  children  have  these  garments  made  very  full  about  the  shoulders,  for  when 
they  arc  travelling  thty  carry  their  infants  ujioh  their  backs,  next  their  skin,  in 
which  situation  they  are  perfectly  comfortable  and  in  a  position  convenient  to  be 
suckled.  Nor  do  they  discontinue  to  give  their  milk  to  them  till  they  have  another 
child.  A  woman  in  childbed  is  by  no  means  the  object  of  the  tender  care  and 
serious  attention  which  she  receives  among  civilized  people.  At  this  period  no  part 
of  a  woman's  usual  occupation  is  omitted ;  and  this  continual  and  regular  exercise 
must  contribute  to  the  physical  welfare  of  the  mother. 

Though  the  women  are  as  much  in  the  power  of  the  men  as  other  articles  of 
their  property,  t';ey  are  always  consulted,  and  possess  a  very  considerable  influence 
in  determining  questions  of  traffic  and  other  important  concerns. 

Plurality  of  wives  is  common  among  this  people,  and  the  ceremony  of  marriage 
is  of  a  simple  nature.  The  girl  is  betrothed  at  a  very  early  period  to  some  man 
whom  the  parents  think  able  to  support  her ;  nor  is  the  inclination  of  the  woman 
considered.  Whenever  a  separation  takes  place,  it  depends  entirely  upon  the  hus- 
band. There  are  particular  skins  which  the  women  never  touch,  such  as  those  of 
the  bear  and  the  wolf;  and  those  animals  the  men  are  seldom  known  to  kill. 

The  Chippewyans  are  not  remarkable  for  their  activity  iis  hunters,  a  peculiarity 
which  is  owing  to  the  ease  with  which  they  snare  deer  and  spear  fish ;  and  since 
these  occupations  are  not  beyond  the  strength  of  their  boys  and  old  men,  these  classes 
participate  in  thase  labors  which  among  their  neighbors  are  confined  to  the  women. 
They  make  war  on  the  Esquimaux,  who  cannot  resist  their  superior  numbers,  and 
when  taken  the  Esquimaux  are  put  to  death,  for  it  is  a  principle  with  the  Cliippe- 
wyans  never  to  make  prisoners.  At  the  same  time  they  tamely  submit  to  the  hostile 
Knisteneaux,  a  people  who  are  not  so  numerous  as  themselves. 

They  do  not  affect  tliat  cold  reserve  at  meeting,  among  either  themselves  or 
strangers,  which  is  conunon  with  the  Knisteneaux,  but  communicate  at  once  all  the 
information  of  which  they  are  possessed.  Nor  are  they,  on  the  other  hand,  excitable 
like  the  Knisteneaux,  who  often  pass  quickly  from  an  apparent  torpor  to  a  state  of 
groat  activity.  The  Chippewyans  are  more  uniform  in  their  behavior  and  temjier 
than  many  other  Indians,  but  they  are  very  persevering  where  their  interest  is 
concerned. 

As  tlu>!e  people  are  not  addicted  to  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors,  they  have  an 
uninterrupted  command  of  their  understanding,  which  is  always  directed  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  their  own  interest;  and  this  disposition,  as  may  l>e  readily  imngined, 
sometimes  wH'asions  them  to  be  charged  witii  fraudulent  practices  They  will  submit 
with  patience  to  the  severest  treatment  when  they  are  conscious  that  they  deserve  it, 
but  will  never  forget  or  forgive  any  wanton  injury.  They  are,  it  would  appear,  the 
most  peaceful  tribe  of  Indians  known  in  North  America. 

There  are  conjurers  and  high-priests  among  them,  who  certaiidy  operate  in  an 
cxtraordinarv  maniu'r  on  tlie  imaginations  of  the  people  in  the  cure  of  disorders. 


f..; 


414 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


I 


Their  principal  maladies  are  rheumatic  pains,  the  flux,  and  consumption.  The 
venereal  complaint  is  very  common :  though  its  progress  is  slow,  it  gradually  under- 
mines the  constitution,  and  brings  on  premature  decay.  They  have  recourse  to 
superstition  for  curing  diseases,  and  charms  are  their  only  remedies,  except  the  bark 
of  the  willow,  which  is  burned  and  reduced  to  powder  and  strewed  upon  fresh 
wounds  and  ulcers.  They  also  use  vapor-baths,  or  places  contrived  for  promoting 
perspiration.  Of  the  use  of  simples  and  plants  they  have  no  knowledge,  nor  can  it 
be  expected,  as  their  country  does  not  produce  medicinal  herbs. 

Though  they  have  so  long  enjoyed  an  intercourse  with  Europeans,  their  country 
is  ;o  barren  that  the  natives  cannot  j)urchiuse  many  of  the  goods  which  might  be 
introduced  by  such  a  communication,  and  they  continue  in  a  great  measure  their  own 
inconvenient  and  awkward  modes  of  taking  their  game,  and  of  preparing  it  when 
taken.  Sometimes  they  drive  the  deer  into  the  small  lakes,  where  they  spear  them, 
or  force  them  into  enclosures,  where  the  bow  and  arrow  are  employed  against  them. 
Animals  are  also  taken  in  snares  made  of  skin.  In  the  former  instance  the  game  is 
divided  among  those  who  have  been  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  it.  In  the  latter  it  is 
considered  private  property ;  nevertheless,  any  unsuccessful  hunter  passing  by  may 
take  a  deer  so  caught,  leaving  the  head,  skin,  and  saddle  for  the  owner.  Thus, 
though  they  have  no  regular  government,  Jis  every  man  is  lord  in  his  own  family, 
they  are  influenced  more  or  less  by  certain  princi|>les  which  conduce  to  their  general 
benefit.  ' 

In  their  quarrels  with  one  another  they  very  rarely  proceed  to  a  greater  degree 
of  violence  tlian  is  occasioned  by  blows,  wrestling,  and  j)ulling  of  the  hair ;  while 
their  abusive  language  consists  in  applying  the  name  of  some  oft'ensive  animal  to  the 
object  of  their  displeasure,  and  adding  tlie  terms  ugly,  and  ch'iay,  or  still-born.* 

Their  arms  and  domestic  apparatus,  in  addition  to  the  articles  procured  from 
Europeans,  are  spears,  bows,  and  arrows.  Their  tishing-nets  and  lines  are  made  of 
green  deer-skin  thongs.  They  have  also  nets  for  taking  the  beaver  as  he  endeavors 
to  escape  from  his  loilge  when  it  is  broken  open.  Tiie  net  is  set  in  a  particular 
manner  for  the  purpose,  and  a  man  is  emj)loyed  to  watch  for  the  moment  when  he 
enters,  or  tlie  beaver  would  soon  cut  his  way  through.  When  caught,  the  beaver  is 
thrown  upo*:  the  ice,  where  he  remains  iis  if  he  had  no  life  in  him. 

The  snow-shoes  are  of  a  very  superior  workmanship.  The  inner  part  of  the 
frame  is  straiglit,  the  outer  one  is  curved,  and  the  shoe  is  i)ointed  at  both  ends,  with 
the  end  in  front  turned  up.  Snow-sIioes  are  laced  with  great  neatness  with  thonj^s 
made  of  deor-skin.  The  sledges  are  formed  of  thin  slij)s  of  board,  turned  up  also 
in  front,  and  are  highly  polished  with  crooked  knives,  so  that  they  nniy  slide  along 
with  facility.  Close-graineil  wood  is  the  best  for  sledge-construction,  but  the  Chip- 
pewyan  sledges  are  made  (jf  tiie  red  or  swamp  spruce  fir-tree. 

Their  amusements  or  recreations  are  but  few.     Their  music  is  so  inharmonious. 


'  Tliix  riiiiiit!  is  iilsu  iipplit'il  tu  tliu  fuetu.t  of  an  animiil,  when  killed,  wliivli  ih  eoiiMidercJ  uii  uue  uf  tbo 
greatest  deliciulL's. 


HBR! 


Ha! 


m 
mm 


THE   TRIBES. 


415 


and  their  dancing  so  awkward,  that  they  may  well  be  supposed  to  be  ashamed  of 
both,  for  they  very  schlom  practise  either.  They  also  shoot  at  marks,  and  play  at 
the  games  common  among  Indians,  but  they  much  prefer  sleeping  to  play,  and  the 
greater  part  of  their  time  is  passed  in  procuring  food  and  resting  from  the  toil 
necessary  to  obtain  it. 

They  are  of  a  querulous  disposition,  and  are  continually  making  complaints, 
which  they  express  by  a  constant  repetition  of  the  word  eduiy,  "  it  is  hard,"  in  a 
whining  and  plaintive  tone. 

They  are  superstitious  in  the  extreme,  and  almo?*^^  every  action  of  their  lives, 
however  trivial,  is  more  or  less  influenced  by  some  whimsical  notion.  They  have  no 
particular  form  of  worship ;  but,  as  they  believe  in  a  good  and  an  evil  spirit,  and  in 
a  peculiar  state  of  future  rewards  and  punishments,  they  cannot  be  devoid  of  religious 
impressions.  At  the  same  time  tl'_ey  manifest,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  their  race, 
a  decided  unwillingness  to  make  any  communications  on  the  subject. 


1' 


ALASKA   INDIANS. 

These  comprise  two  groups,  the  native  tribes,  mostly  inhabiting  the  interior,  and 
those  on  the  coast,  whom  Mr.  Dall*  terms  Orarians.  The  latter  include  the  Innuits, 
or  Esquimaux,  the  Aleutians,  living  west  of  the  IGOth  degree  of  longitude  and  in  the 
Aleutian  Islands,  ami  the  Tuski,  occupying  the  country  west  of  the  Chukchee  Pen- 
insula (in  Asia),  from  Kolinchin  Bay  on  the  north  to  Anadyr  Bay  on  the  south. 
The  cast  of  countenance  of  these  people  is  slightly  Mongolian :  this  is  especially 
noticeable  in  the  complexion  and  in  the  eyes.  They  are  much  more  intelligent  than 
the  Indians  of  the  interior,  and  are  indeed  in  every  respect  superior  to  them. 

In  the  other  group  or  family  tiiere  are  two  stocks, — the  Thlinket.s  and  the  Tin- 
neh.  The  former  are  confined  to  the  coast,  and  the  latter  occupy  the  greater  part  of 
the  interior.  The  Thlinkets  include  the  Cliinsyins,  the  Kygani  or  llaidahs,  tlie  true 
Thlinket.s  or  so-called  Koloohcs,  and  tiie  Yakutats,  or  tribes  which  inhabit  the 
vicinity  of  Bchring  Bay.  The  Ugalenses  have  also  been  referred  by  some  writers  to 
this  stick. 

The  Tinneh  stock  includes  a  large  number  of  North  American  tribes,  extending 
from  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  River  south  to  the  borders  of  Mexico.  The 
Apaches  and  Comanches  belong  to  it.  The  tribes  of  this  stock  in  the  lortli  '•xtend 
westward  nearly  to  the  delta  of  the  Yukon,  and  reach  the  coiist  at  Cook  Inlet  nd 
tlu;  mouth  of  the  (!oj)pi'r  River.  Eastward  they  extend  nearly  to  the  moui?tiuns 
which  divide  the  water-slu'd  of  Hudson  Bay  from  that  of  the  Mackenzie  aua  Atha- 
l)ii.sca.  They  have  been  called  Chippewyans  (paintcv.  coat.s)  from  the  shape  of  their 
p.irk...=!,  and  Athabascans  from  the  district  some  of  them  inhabit,  but  their  own 
national  designation  is  Tinneh,  meaning  "  people"  in  a  collective  sense. 

They  may  be  divided  into  three  natural  groups:  the  E;i.stern  Tinneh,  who  form 


W.  H.  Diill,  "  Alaska  and  its  Resources,"  Boston,  1870. 


416 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


tlieir  tribal  name  by  the  addition  of  "  t^^na,"  an  evident  modification  of  the  same 
word ;  the  Kulchin,  wlio  principally  occupy  the  valleys  of  the  Yukon  and  its  tribu- 
taries ;  and  the  "Western  Tinneh,  who  occupy  the  region  west  of  the  Yukon,  and 
the  banks  of  that  river  below  Naklukahyet.  They  form  their  tribal  designation  by 
the  addition  of  "  t;ina,"  another  modification  of  Tinneh.  They  are  bounded  every- 
wliore  on  the  coast  by  the  Innuit  territories.  The  total  Indian  population  in  1870 
numbered  twenty-six  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-three. 


APACHES. 

The  elevated  summits  of  New  Mexico  lying  north  of  the  Gila  and  west  of  the 
upper  Rio  Grande  may  be  said  to  be  rather  infested  than  occupied  by  this  predatory, 
2)0werful,  and  warlike  nation.  They  are  the  most  completely  nomadic  in  their  habits 
of  any  tribe  in  North  America.  Tliey  have  no  permanent  towns  or  villages,  but 
rove  over  large  portions  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  in  small  bands  in  quest  of 
subsistence  and  plunder.  They  are  the  dread  of  the  contiguous  Spanish  settlements, 
from  whose  ranches  they  steal  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep.  They  fall  upon  the  unwary 
travellers  who  are  weak  in  numbers  and  unprotected,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  booty 
often  take  life.  They  rely  upon  their  bows  and  darts  for  everything  to  sustain  life, 
and  when  this  resource  fails,  as  it  often  does,,  they  wander  about  wretched  and 
poor,  without  a  morsel  to  eat,  and  with  scarcely  a  shred  of  clothing  to  hide  their 
nakedness.  They  have  been  almost  constantly  at  war  with  the  whites,  and  recently 
the  band,  under  chief  Victoria,  infested  the  border  settlements  of  New  Mexico. 
They  were  placed  upon  reservations  in  1858-59.  From  the  time  of  the  Gadsden 
inircliase,  in  1848,  until  1801,  they  were  friendly  to  the  Americans,  who  for  the 
next  ten  years  tried  to  exterminate  them,  at  an  expense  of  from  three  to  four  mil- 
lions per  annum,  with  no  appreciable  result.  One  hundred  and  twenty-five  friendly 
Apaches  were  ma.s.sacred  by  a  party  of  Mexicans  and  Indians  while  assembled  near 
Camp  Grant  under  the  charge  of  United  States  officers,  in  April,  1871. 

The  Apaches  speak  a  language  the  tones  of  which  are  difficult  to  be  expressed 
by  the  English  alphabet.  It  abounds  equally  with  guttural,  hissing,  and  indis- 
tinctly uttered  mixed  intonations.  A  full  vocabulary  of  it  ha.s  been  obtained.  It 
is  very  meagre  in  sounds,  and  in  equivalents  for  English  and  Spanish  words,  and  so 
deficient  in  grammar  that  the  verbs  appear  to  have  no  tenses.  Deficient  as  it  is, 
however,  many  of  its  sounds  are  peculiar,  and  denote  it  to  be  the  parent  language  of 
tlie  surrounding  tribes.  It  abounds  in  the  sound  of  tz,  so  common  to  the  Sheinitic; 
languages,  and  in  those  of  zl,  d,  and  the  rough  rr,  which  are  wanting  in  tlie  lan- 
guages of  the  old  Atlantic  tribes.  It  is  assigned  with  confidence  to  the  great  Tinneli 
or  Athabascan  stock,  being  equally  removed  from  the  mountain  genus  of  languages, 
from  tliat  of  the  Shoshoncs,  and  from  the  wide-spread  Dakota  languages  of  tiie 
Mississippi  Valley.  The  traditions  of  the  Apaches  are  that  they  came  originally 
from  the  north,  and  they  would  appear  to  have  migrated  in 
base  of  the  Itnckv  .Mountains. 


>ast  ages  along  the  eastern 


THE   TRIBES. 


417 


"  The  Apaches,"  observes  Governor  Lane,  "  the  Navajoes,  and  the  Lipans  of 
Texas  speak  dialects  of  the  same  language.  The  Jicarillas  (Hic-ah-ree-ahs),  Mes- 
caleros,  Tontos,  and  Coyoteros,  are  all  bands  of  the  Apaches,  and  1  am  induced  to 
think  the  Garoteroa  (who  handled  Aubrey  so  roughly)  are  also  an  offshoot  of  the 
Apache  tribe." 

The  traditions  given  to  Dr.  Ten  Broeck  by  the  Navajoes  only  go  to  prove  a  gen- 
eral uniformity  of  beliefs  held  by  the  Indian  tribes  from  the  Arctic  circle  to  the  Straits 
of  Magellan.  It  is  affirmed  by  these  people  that  they  originally  dwelt  in  some  con- 
cavity of  the  earth,  from  which  they,  with  the  quadrupeds,  emerged  to  the  surface. 
The  introduction  of  the  "  horse"  (only  known  to  America  about  three  centuries)  into 
the  tale  of  the  flood,  together  with  certain  symbolic  allusions  to  modern  moral  tenets, 
denotes  that  tlie  web  of  this  story  has  been  woven  from  mixed  materials,  some  of  them 
furnished  since  the  advent  of  the  Spaniards  in  Mexico. 

With  regard  to  their  history,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Eaton,  U.S.A.,  was  informed 
that  they  attribute  their  origin  to  the  northeast,  which,  in  their  present  position, 
agrees  generally  with  the  Apache  traditions.  In  speaking  of  their  manners  and 
customs,  he  notices  their  practice  of  carrying  a  waving  brand  of  fire,  a  custom  which 
is  mentioned  in  the  narrative  of  Coronado  as  having  been  observed  on  the  banks  of 
the  Colorado  in  1542. 

The  history  of  the  Apaches  appears  to  be  one  of  much  interest,  although  it  is  in 
great  part  involved  in  obscurity.  Their  habitat  at  the  earliest  dates  was  the  region 
lying  between  Sonora  and  Chihuahua.  Their  bounds  did  not  at  first  reach  to  the 
banks  of  the  Rio  Gila,  and  when  checked  by  the  Spaniards  for  their  depredations 
their  warriors  sheltered  themselves  in  the  Mimbres  Mountains,  or  the  Sierra  Madrc. 
They  have  for  generations  been  retracing  their  track  of  migration  from  the  north, 
and  there  seems  to  be  little  question  that  they  were  the  destroyers  of  that  semi-civili- 
zation of  which  there  are  ruins  on  the  banks  of  the  Gila. 

The  following  observations  on  the  history,  manners,  customs,  and  condition  of 
this  leading  tribe  of  New  Mexico,  Jis  they  existed  thirty  yeiirs  ago,  are  from  Dr. 
Charlton  Henry,  U.S.A. 

It  would  seem  that  the  Apaches  took  very  little  part  in  the  events  which  oc- 
curred at  the  period  of  the  discovery  and  conquest  of  Mexico.  This  circumstance 
is  the  more  readily  explained  when  we  view  the  geographical  position  of  their 
country,  and  when  we  remember  that  they  had  less  to  do  with  Montezuma  than  other 
Indian  tribes.  However,  it  is  probable,  in  view  of  the  veneration  they  have  until 
this  day  for  the  name  of  JMontezuma,  tliat  they  acknowledged  and  were  under  the 
sway  of  his  powerful  empire,  and  had  attained  a  certain  degree  of  civilization, 
because,  according  to  their  tradition,  they  were  in  his  time  living  in  peace  and  culti- 
vating the  land.  The  banks  of  the  Del  Norte,  tlie  Gila,  and  the  Mimbres  were 
covered  with  rich  crops  of  corn,  and  their  caravans,  frequenting  tlie  principal  towns 
of  the  empire  of  Montezuma,  procured  luxuries  and  food  of  every  kind.  But  after 
the  fall  of  Montezuma,  when  the  great  temple  of  the  sun  liad  been  pillaged,  and  tiie 
cross  of  the  Spaniard  was  everywhore  displayed,  thoir  extreme  rajtacity  fur  gold  led 


i     <  I 


!!   1 


lU 


It- 


418 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


I 

I 


large  and  numerous  parties  towards  the  high  and  distant  lands  where  the  Apaches 
dwelt.  While  searching  for  gold,  the  Castilians  met  with  these  bands.  At  first  the 
simple  and  pacific  natives,  allured  by  trifling  presents  and  protestations  of  friendship, 
received  the  invaders  graciously.  But  among  the  Spaniards  were  many  priests  of 
the  Franciscan  and  Jesuitical  orders,  who,  forwarding  the  conquests  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  under  cover  of  the  Spanish  sword,  had  already  succeeded  in  planting  the 
cross  among  the  more  pacific  natives  of  the  plains.  But  this  method  of  introducing 
religion  met  with  no  success  in  the  case  of  the  Apaches.  The  holy  doctrines  of  the 
cross  were  losing  their  force  under  this  mode  of  treatment,  and  did  not  accord  with 
the  wild  temper  of  the  mountain  tribes :  therefore  the  priests  were  forced  to  retreat 
and  discontinue  their  mission.  They,  however,  established  missions  along  the  Rio 
Grande,  from  which  the  Apaches  kept  far  aloof.  Ere  long  a  series  of  hostilities 
commenced  between  the  mountain  Apaches  and  those  Indians  who  had  settled  on  the 
plains  in  company  with  the  Spaniards.  The  latter  had  by  this  time  made  settlements 
as  far  north  as  Santa  F^,  a  central  post,  from  which  further  explorations  were  made 
and  conquests  extended.  In  the  course  of  time  the  Spaniards  had  penetrated  west  to 
the  coast  of  the  Pacific,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  California,  a  regica  which 
some  writers  think  was  probably  the  Chersonesus  Aurea  of  the  ancients. 

At  the  same  time,  their  increasing  rapacity  for  gold,  and  their  exactions  against 
the  Indians,  whom  they  kept  in  a  state  of  scrvituc^e,  raised  ill  feelings  against  them. 
The  year  1688  brought  about  a  revolution,  in  which  the  Apaches  made  common  cause 
with  the  Pueblo  Indians,  for  the  purpose  of  driving  the  Spaniards  out  of  the  land ; 
and  as  this  revolution  was  kept  secret  until  it  broke  out  at  once  at  every  point,  taking 
the  Spaniards  by  surprise,  the  assailing  party  drove  them  out  of  New  Mexico  to  the 
other  side  of  El  Paso  del  Norte,  where  the  assailed  made  a  stand.  Soon  reinforce- 
ments enabled  the  Spaniards  to  reconquer  their  lost  ground,  and  bring  again  to 
submission  at  lesist  the  "  Pueblos." 

But  much  mischief  had  already  been  done.  The  missions  had  been  destroyed, 
and  their  priests  massacred.  Most  of  the  mines  were  in  the  hands  of  the  insurgents, 
and  any  Spaniard  who  went  towards  them  was  massacred  without  pity.  In  this  state 
of  affairs  the  Spaniards  gave  up  the  Indians,  and  contented  themselves  with  holding 
their  own  ground  till  more  reinforcements  should  arrive.  But,  the  prosperity  of  the 
mother-country  being  on  a  decline,  matters  remained  in  statu  quo  until  the  natives  of 
Spanish  blood,  emboldened  by  their  own  increase,  and  smarting  under  the  tyranny 
of  the  Spanish  government,  took  up  arms  in  turn,  and  with  the  help  of  the  Indians 
(Pueblos  mostly)  in  many  instances  overwhelmed  the  Spanish  troops ;  and  Mexican 
valor  finally  enabled  Iturbide  to  complete  the  overthrow  of  the  Spanish  dominion, 
himself  then  as.suming  the  supreme  power. 

Dissensions  and  pronunciamientos,  however,  soon  threw  the  States  of  the  North 
into  fresh  trouble.  The  Apaches  frequently  sided  with  one  or  other  of  the  opposing 
parties,  and  often  harassed  both  conjointly.  The  States  of  New  Mexico,  Chihuahua, 
and  Sonora  suffered  much  from  their  incessant  inroads ;  and  on  both  sides  the  most 
barbarous  war  was  carried  on.     In  those  times  the  various  Apache  tribes  had  one 


TUE  TRIBES. 


419 


common  chief  of  great  valor.  The  latter  was  finally  killed,  some  say,  by  the  unex- 
pected discharge  of  a  cannon  in  the  hands  of  an  American,  a  trader  with  the  Sono- 
rians,  others  say,  in  a  pitched  battle  between  the  Apaches  and  the  people  of  the  State 
of  Sonora.  His  death  caused  dissensions  among  the  Apache  tribes,  the  various 
chiefs  of  each  aspiring  to  the  supreme  command.  Since  then  the  Apaches  have 
never  been  united  in  a  common  cause,  but  carry  on  war  only  in  small  marauding 
parties ;  and,  though  very  treacherous  and  bloodthirsty,  and  often  extremely  annoy- 
ing and  even  dangerous  to  small  parties  of  whites,  they  cannot  be  looked  upon  as 
being  a  very  formidable  tribe. 

The  following  are  the  different  bands,  according  to  Dr.  Henry,  with  their  respec- 
tive chiefs,  and  the  range  of  each :  Jicarillas,  under  Chacon  Rouge,  who  range  about 
i.he  Sacramento  Mountains ;  Gila  Apaches,  Mangus  Colorado,  who  range  chiefly  about 
the  Gila  River.  A  few  smaller  tribes,  under  Ponci,  range  up  and  down  the  valley  of 
the  Rio  Mimbres. 

The  names  of  the  different  tribes  for  the  most  part  have  reference  to  their  location. 
"  Los  Apaches  Tontos"  were  so  named  by  the  Mexicans  for  their  notorious  imbecility, 
the  word  tonto  meaning  "  idiot"  in  the  Spanish  language.  The  low  development  of 
the  mental  faculti&s  of  this  tribe  (which  is  very  numerous)  has  been  conjectured  to 
have  had  its  origin  in  the  slight  intercourse  they  have  had  with  the  whites.  They 
formerly  ranged  about  the  head-springs  of  the  Gila,  and  near  the  Sierra  del  Mo- 
goUon.  This  mountain  seems  to  have  been  the  head-quarters  and  stronghold  of  all 
the  Apaches  on  the  western  side  of  the  Rio  Grande.  They  used  to  boast  of  being 
able  within  a  few  days,  by  means  of  signal-fires,  to  muster  a  force  of  five  hundred 
warriors ;  and,  as  they  had  in  this  region  "  caches"  full  of  mescal,  with  plenty  of 
live-stock,  they  deemed  the  place  impregnable. 

Los  Gilefios,  or  Gila  Apaches,  ranged  as  far  as  the  Rio  San  Francisco  and  the 
range  of  mountains  of  the  same  name.  They  are  the  best  warriors  of  any  Apache 
tribe. 

Los  Mimbrefios,  who  derive  their  name  from  the  Sierra  de  los  Mimbres  and 
Rio  de  los  Mimbres,  near  which  were  their  hunting-grounds,  had  their  range  from 
the  Sierra  San  Mateo  on  the  north  to  the  Sierra  Florida  on  the  south,  the  Sierra  de 
los  Burros  lying  to  the  west,  and  one  of  the  spurs  of  the  Mogollon  to  the  east,  o^. 
which  latter  is  situated  the  old  Mexican  mine  of  Santa  Rita  del  Cobre,  in  New 
Mexico,  about  fifty  miles  east  from  the  Rio  Gila,  and  ten  miles  westerly  from  the  Rio 
Mimbres. 

Los  Apaches  Mescaleros  used  to  range  from  La  Sierra  de  Guadalupe  to  La  Sierra 
de  San  Andre  north,  and  south  to  the  Rio  Pecos,  and  thence  to  the  Rio  Grande  to 
the  west, — which  range  includes  mines  of  silver  worked  in  former  times  by  the 
Spaniards ;  "  but  these  mines,"  says  Henry,  "  have  been  in  possession  of  the  hostile 
Mescaleros  since  the  revolution  of  1688.  The  name  borne  by  this  tribe  is  derived 
from  a  certain  plant  called  mescal,  which  being  roasted  in  holes  in  the  ground,  cov- 
ered over  with  hot  stones,  and  reduced  to  a  pulpy  mass,  is  the  principal  food  of  the 
Apaches  when  hard  pressed  by  their  enemies,  or  from  other  causes." 


„ ''- '  mi 

r; 


lit 


imi 


IV' 


490 


TlJtJ  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


i 


The  Lipans  are  an  Apache  tribe  of  considerable  importance,  and  may  be  ranked 
ne^it  to  the  Comanches  among  the  Indians  of  Texas.  They  have  affinity  with  the 
Seraticks  and  the  Mescaleros.  Tlicy  are  more  enterprising  and  warlike  than  tlie 
Comanches,  who  regard  tliem  with  a  respect  in  whicli  fear  is  a  chief  ingredient. 
Their  liabits  are  very  similar  to  those  of  the  Comanches  in  some  particulars,  but  they 
have  made  more  progress  towards  ci  lization.  Many  of  them  speak  the  BpaniHli 
language,  having  formerly  had  much  intercourse  with  the  Me:  icans.  The  Seraticks 
live  on  the  Rio  Grande  above  El  Paso  del  Norte.  Verv  little  is  known  concornina 
them.  The  Mescaleros  also  inhabit  the  valley  of  the  river  Puerco  (Pecos),  a  con- 
siderable eastern  afiluent  of  the  Rio  Grande.  They  are  of  dark  complexion,  peace- 
able in  their  habits,  cultivate  the  ground,  and  raise  stock,  and  have  many  horses  and 
mules,  also  sheep,  goats,  and  black  cattle. 

The  Tonkawas  are  a  separate  tribe,  having  no  traceable  affinity  to  any  other  band 
of  Indians  in  the  country.  They  are  nomadic,  live  on  game,  are  extremely  indolent, 
and  in  consequence  often  suffer  severe  privations.  They  have  generally  been  friendly 
to  the  whites,  though  often  suspected  of  having  stolen  horses  from  the  frontier.  A 
few  of  these  accompanied  our  small  army  in  the  campaign  against  the  Cherokees  in 
1839,  and  rendered  good  service. 

The  Wacoes,  Tawacanies,  Tow-e-ash,  Aynics,  San  Pedros,  Nabaduchoes,  Nacado- 
cheets,  and  Hitchies  are  small  tribes  or  fragments'of  tribes.  They  have  been  long 
resident  in  Texas,  and  properly  belong  to  it,  but  they  are  originally,  the  Hitchies 
excepted,  of  the  Caddo  stock.  The  Wacoes  are  the  most  considerable  of  these  bands, 
amounting  probably  to  one  hundred  and  fifly  warriors,  it  being  understood  that 
among  Indians  every  adult  male  is  a  warrior.  They  are  a  stealthy,  thieving,  faith- 
less race,  and  have  done  much  mischief  on  our  frontier.  They  live  in  a  village  on 
the  Upper  Brazos,  and  raise  corn,  beans,  pumpkins,  etc.,  usually  spending  the  winter 
months  in  hunting.  The  other  small  parties,  amounting  to  about  fifty  families  each, 
live  in  villages  on  the  waters  of  the  Trinity  and  Neches,  and  cultivate  the  ground  to 
a  small  extent. 

The  Hitchies,  once  a  distinct  and  isolated  tribe,  have  so  intermarried  with  their 
neighbor  bands  that  they  have  lost  their  identity  and  may  be  considered  as  merged 
into  the  common  stock.  The  Caddoes  formerly  resided  on  the  Red  River  of  I^ouisi- 
ana,  above  Natchitoches  and  below  the  Great  Raft,  and  were  included  in  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Indian  Agency  stationed  in  1819  at  Natchitoches.  They  removed  to 
Texas  several  years  ago,  and  now  claim  to  be  Texas  Indians. 

The  more  barren  and  sandy  portions  of  the  Apache  country  abound  in  rattle- 
snakes of  highly  venomous  character.  The  Apaches  dread  them,  and  believe  that 
these  serpents  are  possessed  by  evil  spirits,  or  are  the  abode  of  the  souls  of  evil  men. 
From  this  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  the  Apaches  hold  the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis. 
Like  many  of  the  California  Indians,  they  pay  great  respect  to  the  bear,  and  will  not 
kill  one,  or  partake  of  bear's  flesh ;  and  they  entertain  the  same  opinion  with  regard 
to  the  hog  as  do  some  Asiatic  tribes, — viz.,  that  it  is  an  unclean  animal.  They  have 
a  great  respect  for  the  eagle  and  the  owl,  and  appear  to  think  there  are  spirits  of 


n: 


THE   TRIBES. 


421 


divine  origin  connected  with  them.    The  same  liolds  true  with  regard  to  any  hird 
which  is  perfectly  white. 

Among  the  Apaches  are  found  no  ruins  or  mounds  which  might  throw  any  light 
on  their  former  history,  or  which  might  prove  them  to  have  once  been  civilized : 
still,  there  are  ruins  along  the  Rio  Qrande,  the  Gila,  etc.,  which  might  be  supposed 
to  prove  they  formerly  lived  in  villages.  They  say  that  during  the  time  of  Mon- 
tezuma they  had  the  skill  to  manufacture  a  kind  of  pottery,  painted  with  different 
colors  of  imperishable  hue,  but  that  they  have  now  entirely  lost  the  art,  together  with 
that  of  building ;  and  when  asked  now  why  they  do  not  build  houses,  they  reply 
they  do  not  know  how,  and  that  those  of  their  nation  who  did  know  are  all  dead. 
Some,  however,  give  as  a  reason  for  not  building  that  it  is  because  they  always  move 
a  camp  when  any  one  of  their  number  dies.  The  calumet,  or  pipe  of  peace,  is  not 
now  used  by  the  Apaches :  they  use  instead  the  corn-shuck  cigarrito  of  the  Mexicans. 
Their  utensil  for  grinding  breadstuff  consists  of  two  stones,  one  flat,  with  a  concavity 
in  the  middle,  the  other  round,  fitting  partly  into  the  hollow  of  the  flat  stone. 

Their  arrows  are  long,  sometimes  pointed  with  flint,  but  usually  with  iron,  and 
are  feathered  mostly  with  the  plumes  of  the  wild  turkey,  unless  they  can  procure 
those  of  the  eagle,  which  they  are  rarely  able  to  do.  The  feather  upon  the  arrow  is 
bound  down  with  fine  sinew  in  threes  instead  of  twos :  in  other  words,  the  shafl  is 
fledged  on  three  sides,  or  with  three  feathers.  The  arrow-shafl  is  usually  made  of 
some  pithy  wood,  generally  that  of  a  species  of  yucca. 

Besides  the  iron-pointed  arrows,  these  Indians  use  others,  with  the  heads  simply 
of  wood  hardened  in  the  fire,  for  the  purpose  of  killing  small  game.  All  Apaches 
are  mounted  on  small  ponies,  descendants  of  the  wild  breed,  and  capable  of  great 
endurance.  The  women  all  ride  astraddle.  The  Spanish  bit  is  used,  but  oflen  a 
simple  cord  of  hair  is  passed  between  the  horse's  jaws  and  serves  as  a  bridle.  Pan- 
niers of  wicker-work  for  holding  provisions  are  generally  carried  on  the  horse  by 
the  women.  The  shells  of  the  pearl-oyster,  and  a  rough  wooden  image,  are  favorite 
ornaments  with  both  sexes.  They  arc  also  fond  of  beads  and  metal  buttons.  Their 
feet  are  protected  by  high  buckskin  moccasins  with  lengthened  square  toes,  pierced 
at  the  sole  i;ear  the  end  with  holes  to  admit  the  air.  The  principal  articles  of 
clothing  are  made  of  coarse  cotton,  which  they  seem  never  to  wash.  Their  quivers 
are  usually  made  of  deer-skin,  and  sometimes  of  the  skin  of  the  wild-cat. 

The  organization  of  the  Apaches  is  much  like  that  of  some  of  the  ancient  tribes, 
the  chiefs  being  the  wealthiest  men,  the  most  warlike,  the  first  in  battle,  the  wisest 
in  council ;  and  the  more  popular  take  a  wife,  whom  they  buy  from  another  tribe, 
giving  in  exchange  horses,  blankets,  and  trinkets  of  various  kinds.  A  chief  can 
have  any  number  of  wives  he  chooses,  but  one  only  is  the  favorite.  She  is  admitted 
to  his  confidence,  and  superintends  his  household  affairs ;  all  the  other  wives  are 
slaves  to  her ;  next  come  his  peons,  or  slaves,  and  his  wife's  slaves,  and  the  servants 
of  his  concubines ;  then  the  young  men  or  warriors,  who  are  often  youths  who  have 
desertetl  other  tribes  on  account  of  crimes  and  have  fled  to  the  protection  of  the  chief 
of  this  tribe ;  then  come  the  herdsmen,  and  so  on. 


m 


41". 


>•) 


rilE  INDIAN   TRIBEH  UF  WfJ   UNITKl)  STATES. 


1 

I 


The  atrength  of  a  tribe  or  bund  rangcn  from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  bouIh, 
and  Bucli  a  band  can  niuHter  from  twenty-five  to  fift;'  wiirriorn,  headed  by  a  capitun- 
cillo,  or  capitan,  under  the  command  of  the  chief,  who  nioHtly  remains  at  liome,  and 
very  seldom  leads  in  a  foray,  taking  the  iiehi  only  in  cases  of  emergency.  This 
captain  is  often  the  oldest  son  of  the  chief,  and  assumes  command  of  the  tribe  on 
the  death  of  his  father,  and  then  he  chooses  a  captain  among  Iiis  bravest  warriors. 
A  council  of  chiefs  is  assembled  in  case  of  undertaking  a  marauding  expedition. 
Hhould  the  son  of  a  chief  prove  unfit  for  the  situation  of  captain  from  want  of 
courage,  energy,  or  otherwise,  he  soon  finds  himself  deserted  by  all  his  warriors,  who 
join  a  more  expert  captain  or  chieftain,  leaving  him  (the  former)  at  the  head  of  a 
crowd  of  women  and  children.  Many  of  the  Apaches  dress  in  the  breech-clout 
only,  but  they  are  beginning  now  to  imitate  the  Mexicans,  the  men  wearing  the 
scrape  or  blanket  pretty  generally,  while  not  a  few  wear  the  straw  hat  or  sombrero. 
The  women  have  a  short  petticoat,  and  wear  their  hair  loose  over  the  naked  shoulders. 
The  women  in  mourning  for  husbands  killed  in  battle  cut  their  hair  off  short.  The 
younger  children  often  go  entirely  nude.  Those  under  the  age  of  two  years  are 
carried  by  the  mother  in  a  kind  of  osier  basket,  in  which  the  child  is  fastened  in  a 
standing  posture.  There  is  a  cover  over  the  head  of  the  child,  and  the  whole  outfit 
much  resembles  the  niche  of  a  statue  of  a  saint  such  as  is  seen  at  the  corners  of  the 
streets  of  cities  in  Spain.  When  on  a  roving  ^expedition,  if  on  foot,  the  mother 
fastens  this  basket  to  a  strap  which  depends  from  the  forehead,  while  the  basket  is 
swung  down  the  back  as  she  walks  in  a  stooping  position.  Wlien  the  woman  is  on 
horseback,  the  basket  is  fastened  to  the  saddle  on  one  side. 

The  women  color  their  faces  with  a  kind  of  paint,  black  or  red,  or  both  of  these 
colors,  and  the  men  daub  vermilion  on  their  faces  all  over  evenly  ;  when  they  are 
about  to  go  to  war  they  also  grease  their  bodies.  The  captains  of  the  bands  wear  a 
kind  of  helmet  made  of  buc^kskin,  ornamented  with  crow  or  turkey  feathers.  The 
Apaches  wear  no  beards  on  their  faces.  They  are  naturally  rather  bare  of  this 
appendage,  and  they  pull  away  by  the  roots  whatever  hair  may  present  itself  on  any 
part  of  the  body.  The  women  do  the  same,  but  they  allow  the  hair  of  their  head  to 
attain  its  full  length.  Their  hair  is  very  black  and  straight,  much  resembling  horse- 
hair. In  general,  the  shape  of  the  head  and  body  of  the  Aj)ache  apjwars  to  belong 
to  the  Asiaiic  type  of  the  human  family.  Their  behavior  is  grave  and  often  pas- 
sionate ;  they  are  naturally  inclined  to  intemperance  in  strong  drinks,  though 
necessity  often  obliges  them  to  adopt  temperance, — a  restraint  which  they  seem  to 
bear  with  great  ease. 

Promiscuous  intercourse  between  the  sexes  seems  to  be  common  among  the 
Apaches,  although  they  are  very  jealous  of  their  women.  A  wife  found  guilty  of 
infidelity  is  mutilated  by  having  her  nose  shaved  off  even  with  the  face. 

Their  knowledge  of  medicine  is  very  limited.  They  seem  to  be  hydropaths 
mostly.  They  have  not  any  fixed  rates  of  barter.  A  great  many  of  the  Indians 
are  addicted  to  falsehood.  They  believe  in  one  God.  They  are  very  much  given  to 
frequent  "  fiestas,"  or  feasts,  on  which  occasions  the  females  do  the  principal  part  of 


1 


THE  TRIBES. 


423 


tho  (lancing.  The  women  and  children  captured  from  the  Mexicans  they  treat  very 
cruelly.  They  have  no  respect  for  female  virtue  in  the  cuhc  of  their  enemies  or 
captivcH.  They  do  not  scalp  their  enemies.  They  dread  to  have  the  body  of  one  of 
their  people,  killed  in  fight,  fall  into  the  hands  of  their  enemij-s,  and  make  every  effort 
to  prevent  it.  Probably  they  bury  their  dead  in  caves,  for  their  graves  are  not  often 
found.  They  are  fond  of  smoking,  but  do  not  chew  tobacco.  They  practise  tho 
still-hunt  mostly,  except  for  antelopes,  which  they  surround  on  horseback  in  largo 
parties.  Their  lodges  are  built  of  light  boughs  and  twigs.  They  never  remain  in 
one  encampment  long  at  a  time,  and  have  probably  no  knowledge  of  taking  game  by 
means  of  traps  or  snares.  They  are  so;newhut  given  to  a  monotonous  kind  of  sing- 
ing when  idle,  and  are  fond  of  cards,  the  use  of  which  they  learned  from  the  Mexi- 
cans. When  fighting,  they  keep  their  liorses  in  rapid  motion,  and  are  never  at  rest 
in  the  saddle.  Among  articles  which  they  use  for  food  are  the  seeds  of  soveral  species 
of  weeds,  aa  well  as  the  cones  of  the  piQon,  and  cedar-borrieij. 

Since  Dr.  Henry's  account  was  written,  this  tribe  has  been  La'  ight  to  a  condition 
of  partial  dependence  on  and  obedience  to  the  United  Stat,  government,  and  an 
Indian  police  organized  from  its  own  memliers  has  remlured  r'markably  efficient 
service.  They  are  inclined  to  agriculture,  and  are  now  at  work  upon  a  school- 
building,  frcT  their  desire  to  have  their  children  educated.  "  With  a  reasonable 
amount  of  assistance  and  instruction,"  says  the  Indian  Coinmissioner's  Report  of 
1880,     the  Apache  can  soon  become  self-supporting." 

The  Tonto  Apaches,  who  are  of  the  Yuma  stock,  are  now  collected  in  large 
numbers  at  the  San  Carlos  Agency,  in  Arizona,  together  with  the  Mimbre  and  other 
smaller  bands.  They  are  cowardly  and  murderous,  and  formerly  killed  more  pio- 
neers in  Northern  Arizona  than  any  other  tribe.  Prior  to  1865  they  were  peaceable. 
From  that  year  until  1871  they  were  on  the  war-path. 

The  Mescalero  Apaches,  numbering  about  twelve  hundred,  are  established  near 
Fort  Stanton,  in  the  eastern  part  of  New  Mexico,  and  range  generally  south  of  that 
point.  Prior  to  1864  they  were  on  the  Bosque  Redondo  Reservation.  When  the 
Navajoes,  their  enemies,  were  removed  to  that  place,  the  Mescaleros  fled,  and  for  a 
time  were  hostile,  but  they  have  long  been  at  peace.  They  have  no  treaty  with  the 
Unitecf  States,  but  are  in  part  subsisted  by  the  government.  They  care  little  for 
farming  or  industrial  pursuits,  and  have  but  a  single  school,  with  twenty-eight 
scholars. 

The  San  Carlos,  White  Mountain  (Coy otero),  Tonto,  Chiricahua,  Southern  and 
Ojo  Caliente  Apache,  and  Apache  Yuma  and  Mohave,  since  1875  have  been  located 
in  the  White  Mountain  Reservation,  Arizona,  containing  three  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  fifty  square  miles.  They  number  altogether  four  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  seventy-eight.  The  Southern  Apaches  comprise  two  bands,  the  Mimbres  and 
Mogollons,  and  number  about  twelve  hundred.  They  are  warlike,  and  generally 
hostile  to  the  government.  They  were  removed  in  1871  from  Southern  New  Mexico 
on  account  of  their  depredations  upon  the  settlers  there.  The  Jicarilla  Apaches, 
seven  hundred  and  fifty-two  in  number,  are  located  at  the  Abiquiu  Agency,  New 


I 
'I 


424 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Mexico.  These  Indians  have  no  homt,  no  work,  no  schools,  no  moral  or  religious 
training,  and  are  greatly  demoralized  by  whiskey,  but  are  anxious  for  a  reservation 
where  they  can  cultivate  land  and  make  homes  for  themselves. 

The  Chiricahua  Apaches,  Cochise's  tribe,  were  removed  in  1870  from  their  reser- 
vation in  Southeastern  Arizona.  They  had  been  peaceable  prior  to  this  removal, 
when  about  four  hundred  of  them  refused  to  go,  and,  like  Victoria's  band,  took  the 
war-path,  killing  and  plundering  indiscriminately. 

The  Coyoteros  (White  Mountain),  the  largest  and  fiercest  of  the  Apache  tribes, 
number  about  two  thousand,  and  were  the  perpetrators  of  the  massacre  of  a  part  of 
General  Carr's  command  at  Camp  Apache,  August  31,  1881.  Since  its  formation 
the  San  Carlos  Agency  has  been  four  times  reduced  in  area,  twice  in  order  to  exclude 
mineral  lands,  and  twice  to  deprive  it  of  choice  agricultural  lands  upon  which  white 
men  had  settled. 

NAVAJ0E8. 

The  Navajoes  are  also  Athabascans  far  removed  from  the  main  body.  They  have 
a  fine  reservation  in  the  northern  part  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  set  apart  under 
the  treaty  of  June  1,  1868,  embracing  about  six  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty 
square  miles.     They  number  about  twelve  thousand. 

Says  Lieutenant-Colonel  Eaton,  U.S.A.,  writing  in  1853, — 

"  They  are  a  branch  unquestionably  of  the  great  Apache  tribe,  the  most  enter- 
prising and  formidable  of  all  the  Indians  in  or  near  New  Mexico.  Their  language 
is  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  the  Jicarilla  Apaches,  who  live  in  the  mountain-ridges 
east  of  the  Rio  del  Norte.  They  cultivate  tiie  ground  but  to  a  limited  extent,  and 
not  enough  so  as  to  restrain  them  from  occasional  depredations  in  winter  upon  the 
Pueblo  and  New  Mexican  settlements.  They  raise  corn,  pumpkins,  and  melons,  and 
a  little  wheat.  They  make  blankets,  some  of  them  pretty  in  color,  of  close  texture, 
and  of  a  very  durable  quality,  though  this  art  may  have  been  acquired  from  the 
New  Mexicans,  or  the  Pueblo  Indians.  As  warriors  they  certainly  are  not  formida- 
ble, and  they  owe  their  existence  and  security  to  the  rude  and  unfertile  country  to 
which  they  evidently  have  been  driven  by  more  powerful  enemies.  They  owe  much 
of  their  undeserved  repute  for  prowess  to  the  pusilhiiiimity  of  tlii  Mexicans,  rather 
than  to  any  particular  bravery  of  their  own.  Tliey  do  not  live  in  houses  built  of 
stone,  as  liius  been  repeatedly  roprosentcd,  but  in  ciives,  caverns,  and  fissures  of  the 
clift's,  or  in  the  very  rudest  of  huts,  hastily  constructed  of  branches  of  cedar-trees, 
and  sometimes  having  flat  stones  for  roofs.  The  raising  of  horses  is  carried  on,  but 
the  hcrses  are  of  the  smallest  and  most  indifferent  kind.  They  never  make  butter  or 
cheese,  nor  do  they  know  what  such  things  are.  They  certainly  have  no  well-recog- 
nized government  among  themselves,  being  pre-eminently  of  the  most  democratic 
habits.  The  chiefs  are  simply  men  of  influence  by  virtue  of  manliness  of  character 
or  of  wealth  in  horses  or  sheep,  and  are  afraid  to  enforce  a  command  or  exert  any 
oouuol  over  their  respective  bands.  They  have,  therefore,  neither  hereditary  nor 
elective  chiefs.     The  women  do  not  labor  as  much  as  Indian  women  of  other  tribes, 


THE    TRIBES 


425 


!'■  :! 


but  are  very  independent  of  menial  duties,  and  leave  their  husbands  upon  the  slight- 
est pretext  for  dislike.  A  remarkable  superstition  seems  to  govern  these  Indians  in 
their  great  unwillingness  to  make  known  their  own  Indian  names,  or  those  of  their 
friends,  and  they  are  universally  known  by  some  Mexican  name  given  to  them  on 
their  visits  to  the  settlements.  They  are  notorious  thieves,  the  women  more  so  than 
the  men.  In  the  winier  season  they  practise  the  habit  of  carrying  a  firebrand  in  the 
hand  when  travelling  from  place  to  place,  like  the  Indians  near  the  shores  at  the 
head  of  the  Gulf  of  California,  as  related  in  Casteflada's  narrative  of  Coronado's 
expedition.  If  jealous  of  their  wives,  they  are  apt  to  wreak  their  spleen  and  ill-will 
upon  the  first  person  whom  they  may  chance  to  meet.  Several  uf  the  chiefs  are 
doctors,  but  the  curative  art  with  them  does  not  go  beyond  singing  with  the  patient, 
and  other  incantations.  The  welfare  of  the  whole  community  is  a  matter  which  is 
never  entertained  by  them,  individually  or  collectively,  their  organization — if  they 
have  any — being  the  veriest  rope  of  sand.  Dishonesty  is  not  held  in  check  among 
them,  for  frequent  cases  occur  of  their  stealing  horses  from  each  other  without  fear 
of  punishment  from  the  chiefs  or  from  the  nation  at  large.  No  such  thing  as  in- 
dustry is  known  among  them,  and  a  more  lawless,  worthless  tribe  is  not  to  be  found 
in  any  portion  of  the  United  States.  Hospitality  may  to  some  small  extent  be 
observed  among  them,  but  it  is  as  much  as  a  white  man's  life  is  worth  to  be  among 
them  except  as  a  trader,  and  then  their  intcests  lead  them  to  treat  him  with  good 
faith  and  kindness.  Their  country,  though  rude  and  wild,  is  readily  accessible  by 
very  tolerable  roads,  even  into  the  caflon  of  Chelle,  their  stronghold  and  main 
dependence.  It  is  a  gross  error  to  descrilnj  these  Indians  as  being  *  the  most  civilized 
of  all  the  wild  Indians  of  North  America.'  So  far  from  this,  they  are  among  the 
rudest,  least  intelligent,  and  least  civilized  of  all  the  tribes.  Some  trifling  improve- 
ment has  resulted  from  their  intercourse  with  the  Mexico-Spanish  population  of  the 
Del  Norte,  but  it  has  not  {)rogressed  to  an  extent  worthy  of  particular  remark." 

A  much  more  favorable  account  of  the  Navajoes  is  that  furnished  by  Major  E. 
Backus,  U.S.A.,  who,  writing  at  the  same  period,  says,— ^ 

"  There  is  probably  no  tribe  of  Indians  within  the  limits  of  New  Mexico  which 
has  so  signally  redressed  its  own  wrongs,  or  inspired  ita  inhabitants  with  so  great  a 
degree  of  terror,  as  the  Navajoes.  Having  no  permanent  habitations,  and  being  in 
possession  of  a  hardy  and  active  race  of  horses,  they  have  usually  been  prepared  to 
resent  or  inflict  injuries,  and  to  appropriate  to  their  own  usp  ♦he  property  and  persons 
of  their  neighbors  the  Mexicans.  A  bitter  and  mutual  -3eling  of  hatred  has  long 
existed  between  thimi,  and  many  years  of  friendly  intercourse  will  be  requisite  to 
efface  the  recollection  of  injuries  inflicted  and  of  wrongs  unredressed. 

"  The  Navajoes-'  occupy  a  largo  extent  of  country  directly  west  from  Santa  Fe, 
extending  from  near  the  Rio  Grande  on  the  cast  to  the  Colorado  on  the  west,  and 
from  the  land  of  the  Utahs  on  the  north  to  the  Apaches  on  the  south.  It  is  nearly 
bisected  by  tiie  Sierra  de  los  Mimbres,  and  presents  to  the  eye  a  succession  of  elevated 
mountain-peaks,  of  timbered  table-lauds,  of  dry  and  unproductive  valleys,  and  of 
broken  fields  of  lava.     There  is  no  considerable  stream  of  water  within  their  Iwrtlers, 

5( 


&:i 


426 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


ii 


i 


and  those  traced  upon  the  maps  as  rivers  are  usually  dry  during  three-fourths  of  the 
year.  There  are  some  excellent  springs  in  the  valleys  and  caflons  of  the  mountains, 
hut  the  water  is  soon  absorbed  by  the  thirsty  and  porous  soil,  after  having  flowed  but 
a  few  hundred  yards  upon  its  surface. 

"  Before  the  period  when  New  Mexico  l)ecamo  an  integral  portion  of  the  United 
States,  little  or  nothing  had  been  done  towards  subjugating  the  Navajoes.  Their 
depredations  upon  the  citizens  of  the  upper  Rio  Grande  became  so  frequent  and 
formidable  that  in  184G  an  expedition  was  fitted  out  against  them  by  Colonel  Doni- 
phan, who  marched  into  their  country  and  met  their  principal  men  at  a  place  known 
as  the  Ojo  del  Oso  ('Bear  Spring').  A  treaty  was  entered  into,  only  to  be  violated  on 
the  part  of  the  Navajoes  as  soon  as  the  troops  had  retired.  In  the  summer  of  1849, 
Colonel  Washington  marched  from  Santa  F^,  with  a  suitable  force,  for  the  Navajoe 
head-quarters,  at  the  Cafion  de  Chelle.  In  a  collision  which  (snsued,  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal men,  a  rich  Navajoe,  was  killed.  A  satisfactory  treaty  was  finally  entered  into, 
and  Colonel  Washington  returne<l  to  Santa  ¥6,  The  brutal  murtler  of  (^hopaton  by 
Mexicans,  near  Cibolotta,  added  to  otlier  offences  against  the  Navajoes,  soon  rekindled 
former  animosities,  and  the  border  was  once  more  the  scene  of  anarchy  and  con- 
fusion. 

"Colonel  Munroe,  the  new  governor,  made  partial  preparations  in  IHTjO  for  pros- 
ecuting the  war,  but  no  decided  movement  was ,  made  agtiinst  the  Navajoes  until 
August,  1851,  when  Colonel  Sumner  let!  his  command  into  the  heart  of  their  country 
and  constructed  at  Cafloncito  Bonito  a  military  post  called  Fort  Defiance.  Pro- 
ceeding to  the  Cafion  de  Chelle  with  six  companies  of  dragoons  and  a  bittery  of 
artillery,  he  penetrated  tlie  cafion  some  twelve  miles,  but,  finding  it  impracticable  to 
bring  the  enemy  to  action,  returned  to  Fort  Defiance,  and  thence  to  Santa  ¥6.  Sev- 
eral unimportant  skirmishes  took  place  in  and  near  the  cafion.  While  the  troops 
were  ascending,  the  Indians  were  on  the  top  of  itn  vertical  walls  at  so  great  a  height 
tliat  their  arrows,  shot  at  the  troops  Mow,  lost  their  forw  and  fell  horizontally  upon 
the  ground.     The  iiighest  wall  of  this  cafion  rises  one  thousand  fiH't  alK)ve  the  plain. 

"About  Octoln-r  20,  1851,  forty  Moqiii  Indians,  headed  i)y  their  governor,  pre- 
sented themselves  iit  Fort  Defiance,  and  reciuested  an  interview  on  the  part  of  tlie 
Navajoes,  whc,  tlioy  said,  were  desirous  of  living  on  terms  of  amity  with  the  Ameri- 
cans. A  favorable  answer  was  returned,  and  on  the  20th  a  formidable  Ixxly  of 
Navajoes,  well  mounted  and  armed  with  guns,  lances,  Ihiws  and  arrows,  presented 
themselves  In'fore  the  garrison  and  solicited  an  interview.  It  was  at  once  granted, 
and  resulted  in  an  agreement  on  their  part  to  cease  from  hoHtilities  and  depredations 
against  the  trfK)ps  of  the  United  States,  the  citizens  of  New  Mexico,  and  the  pueblos 
of  Tunice  and  Moijui." 

Hostilities  again  broke  out  in  185J>,  but  the  Indians  were  brought  under  subjection 
by  Colonel  Kit  Carson  in  18(»4. 

As  a  nation  of  Indians,  th(>  Navajoes  do  not  (h-serve  tlie  character  given  them  l>y 
the  people  of  New  Mexico.  They  are  a  fine,  athletic  race,  and  are  industrious,  intel- 
ligent, and  warlike.     Though  not  aggressive,  tiiey  have  frequently  lieen  at  war  with 


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THE   TRIBES. 


427 


the  whites.  From  the  period  of  their  earliest  history,  the  Mexicans  have  injured 
and  oppressed  them  to  the  extent  of  their  power,  and  because  these  Indians  have 
redressed  their  own  wrongs  the  Mexicans  have  represented  them  as  a  nation  of 
thieves  and  assacsins. 

The  government  of  the  Navajoes  seems  to  resemble  more  nearly  the  patriarchal 
than  any  other  form.  There  are  many  rich  men  among  them,  whose  possessions 
consist  mainly  of  horses  and  sheep.  Every  drove  and  flock  is  necessarily  attended 
by  its  herders.  Hence  every  rich  man  has  many  dependants,  and  these  dependants 
are  obedient  to  his  will  in  peace  and  in  war.  The  only  elective  ofiice  among  them 
is  that  of  war-chief,  and  even  that  office  expires  with  the  occasion  which  created 
it.  Every  rich  Navajoe  may  be  considered  the  chief  of  his  clan,  or  of  his  own  de- 
pendants, and  these  clans  are  usually  friendly  with  each  other  and  make  common 
cause  against  a  common  enemy.  In  addition  to  the  clans  referred  to,  there  are  many 
Navajoes  who  recognize  no  leader,  and  who  live  the  lives  of  vagabonds,  stealing 
indiscriminately,  as  occasion  offers,  from  friends  and  foes.  They  are  never  trusted 
by  the  rich  Navajoes,  who  are  in  perpetual  dread  of  their  depredations. 

The  habitual  position  of  the  Navajoe  is  on  horseback,  and  few  men  can  be  found 
to  equal  him  in  the  management  of  a  horse.  There  are  rich  men  among  them,  who 
have  four  or  five  hundred  horses,  of  which  many  are  worth  from  fifty  to  one  hundred 
dollars  each,  and  some  few  will  command  a  still  higher  price.  These  Navajoe  horses 
are  active  and  hardy,  having  much  endurance,  and  a  fair  amount  of  speed. 

The  Navajoes  live  much  in  the  open  air.  Their  lodges  are  exceedingly  rude 
structures  of  sticks,  about  four  or  five  feet  high,  with  a  triangular  opening  for  ingress 
and  egress.  On  the  outside,  against  the  sticks,  are  placed  flat  stones  and  earth,  to 
cover  the  intervals  and  protect  them  from  the  weather.  As  often  as  they  change 
their  grazing-grounds,  so  often  do  they  reoccupy  and  repair  some  deserted  lodge; 
and,  as  their  residence  in  it  is  to  be  but  brief,  the  repairs  and  labor  bestowed  upon  it 
are  of  the  most  meagre  and  trifling  character.  In  the  summer  and  winter  these 
Indians  are  found  in  the  southern  portion  of  their  country,  where  there  is  little  snow, 
and  where  their  animals  can  find  good  pasturage.  Early  in  the  spring  they  return  to 
the  cienagas  and  mesas  of  the  north,  where  most  of  them  remain  during  the  summer. 

Although  missionaries  were  established  among  them  in  1680,  the  Navajoes  are 
considered  a  wild  tribe,  and  do  not  proiess  the  Christian  religion.  Like  all  nomadic 
tribes,  they  are  imbued  with  superstitious  which  influence  them  in  all  their  social  and 
domestic  relations. 

A  Navajoe  girl  is  considered  the  property  of  her  parents  until  she  marries.  Prior 
to  her  marriage,  a  contract  is  made  between  the  father  of  the  girl  and  the  destined 
groom.  The  usual  consideration  paid  is  five  or  six  horses.  Twelve  horses  is  con- 
sidered an  exorbitant  price  for  a  wife,  and  is  paid  only  for  one  possessing  unusual 
qualifications,  such  as  beauty,  industry,  and  skill  in  their  feminine  employments. 
A  woman  was  once  pointed  out  to  me  for  whom  *:fteen  horses  had  been  paid.  She 
had  a  tall,  fine  form,  good  features,  and  an  agreeable  and  lady-like  expression,  with 
exceedingly  quiet  manners.     Her  face  was  also  clean,  in  which  respect  it  differed 


428 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


from  tlie  faces  of  most  of  the  Navajoe  belles,  who  usually  evince  a  cat-like  antipathy  to 
the  use  of  water.  When  a  Navajoe  woman  marries,  she  becomes  free,  and  may  leave 
her  husband  for  suiHcient  cause.  For  this  reason  the  women  are  treated  more  kindly 
than  the  squaws  of  the  Northern  tribes,  and  perform  far  less  of  laborious  work  than 
the  Sioux  or  the  Chippewa  women,  such  labor  being  mostly  performed  by  the  poor 
dependants,  both  male  and  female.  The  females  *lo  not  usually  maintain  an  elevated 
character  for  chastity  of  sentiment  or  modesty  of  manners,  a  natural  result  from  the 
nature  of  their  marriage  obligations,  rather  than  a  fault  of  the  people  themselves. 

Like  many  other  savage  tribes,  they  are  much  addicted  to  gambling.  Horse- 
racing  is  a  frequent  amusement,  but  their  favorite  game  consists  in  throwing  a  lance 
or  pole  at  a  rolling  hoop,  in  which  they  are  said  to  exhibit  much  skill. 

The  Navajoes  are  not  given  to  intoxication.  Some  of  them  have  never  tasted 
ardent  spirits,  and  only  those  who  have  visited  the  Mexican  settlements  ask  for  it. 
They  never  fail  to  beg  tobacco,  which  they  smoke,  like  the  Mexicans,  in  the  corn- 
shuck. 

In  detailing  the  leading  events  of  the  introduction  of  a  fort  into  the  territory  of 
the  nation,  in  1851,  Colonel  Backus  observes  that  the  Navajoes  raise  no  cotton,  and  of 
course  have  no  fabrics  of  this  sort,  while  the  Moquis,  who  cultivate  the  plant,  make 
nothing  but  fabrics  of  the  coarsest  cloth.  He  represents  many  of  the  principal 
Navajoes  as  being  rich  in  sheep,  which  they  drive^  from  valley  to  valley  to  find  grass 
and  water.  But  these  men  possess  no  houses,  and  they  sleep,  like  the  sheep  they 
drive,  on  the  grass  and  chips. 

To  these  details  of  the  statu  of  art  among  the  Navajoes  and  Moquis  we  add  one 
or  two  suggestive  facts.  We  have  observed  descriptions  of  the  Navajoe  dwelling 
denoting  a  higher  social  condition  than  this  tribe  has  at  present  any  claims  to. 
Drawings  of  this  kind  of  structure,  made  by  persons  on  the  spot,  have  been  given. 
The  drawing  depicts  a  lodge  of  deflected  poles,  tied  at  the  top  in  the  Sioux  manner, 
and  forming  a  pentagon,  or  a  many-sided  figure,  partly  covered  with  flat  stones, — 
a  material  evidently  adopted  from  the  scarcity  of  bark  or  wood  in  those  bleak 
positions. 

The  Navajoes  own  forty  thousand  horses,  seven  hundred  thousand  sheep,  and 
three  hundred  thousand  goats.  Of  eight  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  wooi  raised 
by  them  in  1880,  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  were  made  into  blankets  and 
clothing  for  their  own  use.     They  are  natives  of  the  country  in  which  they  now  live. 


SHOSHONE,  OK   SNAKE   NATION. 

The  various  tribes  and  bands  of  Indians  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  south  of  lati- 
tude 43°,  who  are  known  under  this  general  name,  occupy  an  elevated  area  in  the 
Utah  basin,  including  the  territory  of  the  Creat  South  Pass  between  the  Mississippi 
Valley  and  the  waters  of  the  Columbia.  Traces  of  the  Shoshones  in  this  latitude 
are  first  found  in  ascending  the  Sweetwater  River  of  the  North  Fork  of  the  Platte, 
or  Nebraska.     They  spread  over  the  sources  of  Green  River,  one  of  the  highest 


i 


tfi 


THE   TRIBES. 


429 


northern  branches  of  the  Colorado  of  the  West,  along  the  summit  south  of  the  great 
Wind  River  chain  of  mountains,  and  thence  westward,  by  the  Bear  River  Valley,  to 
and  down  the  Snake  River,  or  Lewis  Fork  of  the  Columbia,  Under  the  name  of 
Yampatick-ara,  or  Root-Eaters,  and  Bannocks,  they  occupy,  with  the  Utahs,  the 
vast  elevated  basin  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  The  language  is  spoken  by  bands  in  the 
gold-mine  region  of  the  Sacramento.  The  Shotjhoncs  extend  down  the  Snake  River 
Valley,  to  and  north  of  latitude  44°,  but  this  is  not  the  limit  to  which  the  nations 
speaking  the  Shoshone  language,  in  its  several  dialects,  have  spread.  Ethnolog- 
ically,  the  people  s]K!aking  it  are  one  of  the  primary  stocks  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain chain.  They  are  located  immediately  west  of  the  wide-spreading  tribes  who 
speak  the  Dakota  language,  and  south  of  the  sanguinary  Atsina-Algo,  or  Blood  and 
Blackfeet  race,  in  Wyoming,  Idaho,  and  Northern  Nevada.  They  are  a  passive  and 
indolent  rather  than  an  aggressive  or  implacable  race,  though  they  are  savages  in 
the  true  sense  of  the  word.  The  Yampatick-ara  are  represented  as  timid,  degraded, 
and  wretched,  without  arts,  picking  up  a  miserable  subsistence  from  roots,  and  using 
other  spontaneous  means  of  subsistence  in  a  barren  region,  often  eating  larvae,  not 
planting  a  seed,  and  wandering  for  food  and  shelter  amid  scenes  often  as  rugged  as 
those  of  the  Alps  or  the  steppes  of  the  Uralian  chain ;  yet  a  closer  examination 
denotes  that  their  tinudity,  degradation,  and  wretchedness  are  measurably  the  result 
of  untoward  circumstances,  the  improvement  of  which  would  raise  them  to  the  same 
rank  as  their  more  favored  kindred  and  neighbors  the  Comanches,  who  at  unknown 
periods  of  their  history  descended  southeastwardly  into  the  plains  of  Texas. 

That  the  climate  is  not  itself  such  as  to  repel  an  alpine  industrial  population  is 
proved  by  the  success  of  the  Mormons.  Portions  of  the  Alps,  and  other  highland 
or  mountain  areas  of  Europe,  less  favorable  to  human  life,  are  the  residence  of  a  fixed 
population.  The  cereal  grains  are  raised  in  abundance  in  the  great  area  of  the  Salt 
Lake  basin.  Sheep,  goats,  and  cattle  thrive  upon  the  rich  bunch-grass  of  the  sloping 
steppes,  where  the  disintegrated  volcanic  detritus  has  produced  a  soil.  The  expansive 
power  of  frost  is  perpetually  lowering  those  altitudes.  The  entire  summit-region 
abounds  in  pure  water,  and  has  a  healthful  atmosphere,  and  a  high  summer  temper- 
ature at  noonday.  Rains  are  not  wanting,  though  they  are  perhaps  too  unfrequent, 
and  there  seems  to  be  no  insuperable  obstacle  to  the  formation  of  settlements  at 
favorable  points,  where  the  comforts  of  life  could  be  permanently  relied  on.  The 
dryness  of  the  atmosphere,  which  has  been  noticed  as  unfavorable  to  agriculture 
without  irrigation,  is  not  found,  however,  to  prevent  the  growth  of  grass  in  auspicious 
locations.  To  a  region  thus  adaj)ted  to  pasturage  and  grazing,  the  existence  in 
abundance  of  rock  salt  must  prove  an  inestimal)lc  advantage. 

Lewis  and  Clarke,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  our  first  notice  of  this  nation, 
found  them,  under  the  name  of  Shoshones,  in  the  valley  and  at  the  source  of  the 
Jefferson  Fork  of  the  Missouri  River,  which  rises  in  about  latitude  43°  30.  Their 
old  encampments,  and  the  battle-grounds  where  they  had  been  assailed  and  defeated 
by  their  enemies  the  Pawkecs,  or  Minnetarees,  were  fornjerly  to  be  found  as  far  north 
as  the  mouth  of  the  Jefferson,  in  latitude  45°  24'.     This  band,  who  numbered  about 


v! 


•iii^  \ 


;i 


^ 


M 


430 


TllK  INDIAN   THIHES  OF   Tilt:   UNlTKh  STATHS. 


four  hundred  houIm,  were  found  to  pohmchh  horwH.  Tlx!  Slioslioiu'H  formerly  lived, 
ucfording  to  their  own  recollect ionH,  in  the  plains,  Itiit  hud  been  driven  by  roving 
Indiiiii.s  of  the  Siutkiitchewiin  into  the  niountains,  from  which  they  then  rurely  Hal  lied. 
Thin  band  w»8  deemed  a  part  of  the  great  tribe  of  Hnake  IndiauH.  They  were  found 
not  only  on  the  liigheHt  altitudcH  but  also  on  both  Hides  of  the  Rocky  Mountuinn. 
On  the  west  of  the  mountains  they  occupied  the  heatl-walei-H  of  the  Lewis  llivor, 
where  they  subsisted,  in  part,  on  salmon.  The  whole  number  of  the  nation  speaking 
dialects  of  the  Shoshone  language  was  vaguely  estimated  at  that  date  (1H()(J),  in  the 
table  of  Indian  population,  at  thirteen  thousand  six  hundred.  They  were  found 
scattered,  under  various  names,  over  nniny  degrees  of  latitude  and  longitude.  When 
lli-st  found  by  Lewis  and  Clarke  on  the  spurs  of  the  Iloeky  Mountains,  they  employed 
the  expression  Ah-hi-e  !  to  signify  pleiwure  at  the  sight  of  u  white  man.  Their  name 
for  u  white  man  was,  however,  Tabba-honc. 

"  Their  cold  and  rugged  country,"  observe  the  explorers,  "  inures  them  to  fatigue ; 
their  long  abstinence  makes  them  support  the  dangers  of  mountain-warfare ;  and, 
worn  down,  a-s  we  saw  them,  by  the  want  of  sustenance,  they  yet  had  n  fierce  and  ad- 
venturous look  of  courage.  They  sutler  the  extremes  of  want :  for  two-thirds  of  the 
year  they  are  forced  to  live  in  the  mountains,  pansing  whole  weeks  without  meat,  und 
with  nothing  to  eat  but  a  few  fish  and  roots.  Nor  can  anything  be  imagined  more 
wretched  than  their  condition  when  the  salmon  is  j-etiring,  when  root«  are  becoming 
scarce,  and  they  have  not  yet  accpiired  strength  to  hazard  an  encounter  with  their 
enemies.  So  insensible  are  they,  however,  to  these  calamities,  that  the  Shoshones  are 
not  only  cheerful,  but  even  gay  ;  and  their  character,  which  is  more  interesting  than 
that  of  (Uiy  Indians  we  have  seen,  ha.s  in  it  much  of  the  dignity  of  misfortune.  In 
their  intercourse  with  strangers  they  are  frank  and  communicative,  in  their  dealings 
jHirfectly  fair,  and  without  dishonesty.  With  their  liveliness  of  temper,  they  are 
fond  of  gaudy  dresses,  amusements,  and  games  of  hazard,  and,  like  mo8t  Indians, 
delight  in  boiwting  of  their  martial  exi)loit«." 

Such  is  the  account  given  of  the  most  northerly  tribe  of  this  people.  Of  the 
tribes  living  south  of  them  on  the  same  high  altitude  of  mountains,  far  less  favorable 
accounts  have  been  given.  Mr.  Hale,  the  ethnographer  of  the  United  States  Ex- 
])loring  P^xpedition,  takes  but  little  notice  of  this  leading  nation  of  the  mountains, 
their  relations,  languages,  or  popuhiticm ;  which  fact  is  probably  owing  to  their 
remote  and  inaccessible  position.  Fremont  came  among  those  bands  of  the  Shoshone 
stock  who  possess  no  horses,  live  chiefly  on  root.-^,  and  present  the  most  deprt«sed  type 
of  their  condition.  Accuracy  in  relation  to  our  knowledge  of  the  topography  of 
those  regions,  and,  incidentally,  of  the  tribes  inhabiting  it,  begins  with  the  exploratory 
journeys  of  this  ollicer.  He  ascended  the  mountains  from  the  North  Fork  of  the 
Nebraska  or  Platte,  through  the  Sweetwater  Valley,  which  carried  him,  by  a  gentle 
and  almost  imperceptible  ascent,  to  the  South  Piuss.  Here,  at  an  altitude  of  seven 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  in  longitude  101)°  and  latitude  a  little  north  of  42°,  he 
found  himself  among  the  Shoshones,  of  whom  he  had  observed  traces  in  the  Sweet- 
water Valley.      He  had  ncjw  advanced  nine  hundred  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the 


TTl 


THE  TRIBES. 


431 


KnnROA.  In  hifi  Rcparntc  topogrnphicnl  Hhcct-mapB,  piibliHhccl  in  1840,  he  iniMTibeH 
the  wordn  "  Wiir-CJround  of  th(^  HniikdH  and  8ioux  IiuliunH"  Iwtwwfn  tlic  Red  HiittcH 
of  thfl  North  Fork  of  th«  PhitUi  luid  tho  junction  of  th«  IJig  Hundy  Fork  of 
the  Orccn  or  Colorado  of  California.  Wu  arc  thni.  apprimMl  of  tho  fact  that  titu 
HhoHlioncH  or  Hnak<>H  had  Itandri  of  tlu;  great  Dakota  family  for  thvir  cncmiiM  at  tho 
vufltorn  f(M)t  of  tho  niountiiinH.  Tho  distiincio  lH>twc(>n  the  cxtretnoH  of  the  two  points 
thuH  marked  in  one  hundred  and  ninety-two  milcH. 

Says  Mr.  J.  H.  Holman,  the  agent  for  Utah,  in  IiIh  re|)ort  for  185:i, — 
"  For  yearn  a  largo  trilM!  of  the  HhowhoneH,  who  are  Hometimea  called  Snukefl,  in- 
hahited  tlx;  Upper  MiHHouri.  TImh  tribe,  in  hantlH,  eacdi  under  some  favorite  chief, 
occupied  the  co.Mitry  upon  the  liead-waterH  of  the  ArkanHux,  and  the  region  extend- 
ing iw  far  aM  F  »rt  Hall,  Halmon  liiver,  etc.  Tho  Hnake«  were  at  war  with  all  the 
variouH  trihcH  by  whom  they  were  Hiirrounded ;  and  by  thoHO  warn  and  the  Hmall|)Ox, 
which  wiiH  very  fatal  among  them,  they  were  retluced  in  numlH'rH,  and  njilit  up  into 
small  bands.  In  the  spring  of  1822  a  war  broke  out  between  them  and  the  largo 
and  warlike  triln)  of  the  C'rowH,  an<l  tho  war  continued  for  Hoveral  yearw,  when  tho 
Shofihones  were  finally  driven  from  the  country  on  the  Upper  Missouri.  In  pjwt 
times  a  village  of  about  one  hundred  and  fitly  lodges,  from  the  south,  under  the 
chief  Nat-che-to,  existed  on  Bear  Iliver,  some  two  hundred  miles  from  the  present 
location  of  Fort  Hall.  The  Snakes  Isad  Inien  in  the  noighlM)rhood  of  the  Spaniards, 
but  had  had  but  little  intercourse  with  them,  and,  as  is  reported  by  traders,  they  had 
never  seen  a  '  white  man,'  meaning  an  American.  Their  first  meeting  with  Amer- 
icans caused  much  surprise :  they  had,  as  they  assertcid,  never  seen  a  looking-glass, 
and  were  much  lustonished  at  Hceing  themselves  reflected  in  the  gloss.  They  had  no 
knowledge  of  the  use  of  fire-arms,  and  would  fall  to  the  ground  on  hearing  the 
report  of  a  gun.  Their  only  weapon  wa«  the  l)ow  and  arrow.  They  would  give  a 
horse  for  a  common  butcher-knife.  Falling  out  with  the  Spaniards,  they  set  out  to 
join  the  Hannocks,  but  finally  took  possession  of  the  country  about  Fort  Hall.  Their 
most  noted  chi<!f  wtus  the  celebrated  Snag.  A  few  years  subsequent  to  their  coming 
to  the  Fort  Hall  region,  several  other  bands  of  the  Shoshones,  under  the  chief  Tan- 
a-kee,  one  of  the  best  Indians  evc^r  known  to  the  whites,  came  to  the  present  Territory 
of  Utah,  and  settled  in  Salt  Lake  Valley,  extending  their  boundary  to  what  is  now 
called  Cache  Valley,  which  lies  between  Salt  Lake  and  Fort  Hall.  These  bands 
occupied  Salt  Lake  Valley  until  they  were  driven  out  by  the  Mormons,  the  chief 
having  l)een  killed  by  a  Mormon  while  walking  through  his  farm.  A  portion  of 
this  band  still  reside  in  C'achc  Valley  and  on  liear  Iliver;  some  have  joined  the 
'  Diggers,'  who  live  principally  on  tho  waters  of  the  Humboldt  and  in  the  moun- 
tains bordering  on  Oregon.  The  iJigger  Indians,  who  may  1)C  called  a  tribe,  arc 
very  numerous:  they  are  the  poorer  cIuks  of  all  the  tribes  who  formerly  resided  in 
this  section  of  the  country.  When  the  Mormons  and  whites  commenced  their  travel 
to  California  and  Oregon,  unfriendly  feelings  arose.  The  Indians  were  badly  treated. 
The  Mormons  would  frequently  j)rofess  friendship,  get  them  into  their  camps,  shoot 
them  down,  take  their  horses,  and  by  forced  marches  leave  the  Indians  to  seek  revenge 


i^.'ii 


1 


i 


wi 


432 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


11      ,■)■ 


I 


on  the  first  party  of  emigrants  who  travelled  the  road.  The  enmity  between  the 
whites  and  the  Indians  became  general.  Scarcely  a  train  passed  that  was  not  robbed. 
Many  were  killed  on  both  sides.  The  Indians,  having  no  weapon  but  the  bow, 
finding  they  could  not  compete  with  the  rifle,  determined  to  leave  the  country ;  those 
who  had  horses  generally  went,  leaving  only  those  who  were  too  poor  to  travel. 
Thus  the  'Diggers,'  as  they  are  called,  are  a  band  made  up  of  the  poorer  and  frag- 
mentary classes  of  the  Shoshones,  the  Utahs,  the  Bannocks,  the  Sosokos,  and  the 
Washano  tribes.  They  used  to  live  during  the  summer  season  on  the  Humboldt 
River  and  its  tributaries,  northwest  of  Salt  Lake.  They  subsist  principally  on  fish 
and  roots.  The  roots  somewhat  resemble  the  potato,  and  are  very  nutritious  and 
palatable.  The  Diggers  roast  them  when  in  a  green  state,  and  dry  large  quantities  for 
winter  use.  They  are  very  destitute  generally,  having  but  few  horses  or  fire-arms, 
and  little  clothing.  It  is  thought  that  there  were  once  abandoned  white  men  among 
them,  who  induced  them  to  depredate  on  parties  of  emigrants,  and  that  the  white 
received  the  benefit  of  the  spoils.  The  oldest  traders,  who  have  been  longest 
acquainted  with  these  various  bands  and  tribes  of  Indians,  report  them  as  having 
been  friendly  until  they  were  provoked  and  excited  by  the  Mormons. 

"About  1822  or  1823  the  band  of  Shoshones  who  afterwards  resided  on  the  Sweet- 
water and  Green  Rivers  and  about  Fort  Bridger,  consisting  of  some  one  hundred 
and  fifty  or  two  hundred  lodges,  settled  and  occ^ipied  the  country  from  the  North 
Platte  to  Bear  River,  under  the  chief  Petti-Coat  (a  great  medioine-man).  This 
band  was  afterwards  controlled  by  the  celebrated  warrior  Wo-so-keek,  a  devoted 
friend  to  the  whites,  and  his  band  frequently  rendered  service  to  distressed  and 
suffering  emigrants." 

Dismissing  from  view  the  Comanches  (who,  owing  probably  to  the  j)ossession  of 
the  horse  and  living  on  animal  food,  abundantly  supplied  by  the  buffalo,  have 
acquired  a  distinct  tribal  standing  for  themselves),  and  regarding  the  Shoshones  as 
mountaineers,  who  derive  their  best  protection  from  their  inaccessible  position,  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  a  more  impoverished,  degraded,  and  abject  Indian  nation  exists 
in  North  America.  This  character  does  not  apply  as  fully  to  the  Snake  Indians 
proper,  who  occupy  the  upper  part  of  the  valley  of  the  Shoshone  or  Lewis  Fork 
of  the  Columbia.  These  latter  tribes  periodically  subsist  on  salmon,  coming  uj) 
from  the  Pacific,  which  are  abundantly  taken  at  the  falls,  but  at  other  sejisons  they 
have  little  to  distinguish  them  from  the  mountain  bands.  The  country  they  inhabit 
is  for  the  most  part  volcanic,  with  dry  and  arid  sand  plains  forming  intervening 
tracts  between  the  pinnacles  of  rock,  which  are  unfavorable  to  the  increase  of  large 
game,  and  yield  but  little  game  of  any  kind.  As  the  Snakes  have  no  agricultural 
industry,  they  are  doomed  to  sufl'eriiij;  and  depopulation,  like  the  mass  of  the  Indians 
of  Oregon.  Even  in  the  most  favorable  and  healthy  seasons,  they  have  so  little 
physical  stamina  that  the  prevalence  of  fevers,  common  east  of  the  mountain,  has 
been  known  to  prostrate  them  with  the  power  of  a  pestilence.  The  Snake  tribe  is 
ethnologioally  thus  divided :  Wiishakeciks  or  Green  River  Snakes,  in  Wyoming ; 
Tookarikkah,  or  Salmon  River  Snakes  (literally,  mountain-sheep  caters),  in  Idaho 


THE  TRIBES. 


483 


These  two  bands  are  genuine  Snakes.  Smaller  bands  are  those  of  the  Diggers,  in 
Utah ;  Salmon-eaters,  on  Snake  River,  and  the  Root-digging  Bannocks,  or  Pamasht, 
on  Bois^;,  Malheur,  and  Owyhee  Rivers.  Snakes  of  the  Yahooshkin  and  Walpahpe 
bands  were  settled  recently  on  the  Klamath  Reserve  in  Oregon, 

Recent  information  of  the  Shoshones  (using  the  term  in  a  wide  sense)  depicts 
them  as  doomed  to  certain  extinction,  unless  this  doom  be  arrested  by  a  resort  to 
some  fixed  industry.  Their  country  is  devoid  of  the  fur-bearing  animals.  The 
little  resources  they  possess  in  fish  and  game  are  quickly  waited.  Their  habits  and 
manners  are  soon  coriupted,  and  the  native  vigor  of  the  tribes  is  prostrated  just  at 
the  time  of  year  when  tlicii  resources  fail  and  they  are  required  to  begin  a  life  of 
agricultural  industry  to  save  themselves  from  extinction.  Perhaps  their  mountains 
and  rocky  shelters,  the  sparseness  of  population,  and  the  immense  area,  doomed  to 
perpetual  sterility,  may  operate  to  lengthen  out  the  period  of  these  feeble  and 
depressed  but  docile  and  friendly  mountaineers. 

Though  mild  and  peaceful,  they  have  been  almost  constantly  involved  in  defen- 
sive war  with  their  neighbors  the  Crows  and  Blackfeet  on  the  north  and  with  the 
Cheyennes  and  Arapahoes  on  the  south.  They  are  now  collected  in  the  Lemhi  and 
Fort  Hall  Reservations,  Idaho,  and  the  Wind  River  Reservation,  Wyoming.  The 
latter  was  set  apart  for  them  by  the  treaty  of  1868,  and  contains  two  million  six  hun- 
dred and  eighty-eight  thousand  acres.  Owing  to  these  incursions,  and  to  their  indis- 
position to  labor  for  a  living,  little  progress  has  been  made  towards  civilization  by 
these  Indians.  The  Shoshones  of  Idaho  are  not  inclined  to  agriculture,  and  depend 
upon  hunting  and  fishing  for  subsistence. 


■•    ,1 


IS 


■X'. 


COMANCHES  (komANTSUS). 

In  1847,  Hon.  Davjd  G.  Burnett  furnished  Mr.  Schoolcraft  the  following  in- 
formation res{Xicting  this  tribe : 

The  ConiiUichos  arti  the  most  numerous  tribe  of  Indians  in  Texas.  They  are 
divided  into  three  principal  bands, — to  wit,  the  Comanche,  the  Y.'imparack,  and  the 
Tenawa.  Tim  former  ure  the  ones  with  whom  the  whites  iiave  had  most  intercourse. 
They  occu|)y  the  region  Ik'twoen  the  Colorado  of  Texas  and  the  Red  River  of  Loui- 
siana, ranging  from  the  Bources  of  the  Colorado,  including  its  western  affluents,  down 
to  the  Llano  Payou,  and  lioni  the  vicinity  of  the  Pawnees,  on  the  Red  River,  to  the 
American  settlements  on  that  stream.  They  were  once  frequently  at  war  with  the 
Pawnoi's,  and  occasionally  njode  a  hostile  incursion  upon  the  Osages.  The  Yampa- 
racks  range  the  country  north  and  west  of  the  Comanches,  and  the  Tenawas  dwelt 
interior  from  the  latter.  They  ^rc  essentially  one  people,  speak  the  same  language, 
and  have  the  same  jwculiar  habits  and  the  same  tribal  interests.  In  1819  the  three 
bands  consisted  of  ten  thounand  to  twelve  thousand  souls,  and  could  muster  from  two 
tliousand  to  two  thousand  live  hundred  warriors. 

The  Comanches  have  no  definite  idea  of  their  own  origin.  Their  loose  tradition 
is  that  tlieir  ancisstora  came  from  the  North,  but  they  have  no  precise  conception  of 

50 


m 


v  il 


434 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OJ:'  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


the  time  when,  or  from  what  particular  region.  They  are  nomadic  in  their  manner 
of  life,  their  possessions  consisting  of  horses  and  mules,  which  they  steal,  for  the 
most  part,  from  the  Mexicans,  who  hold  them  in  great  dread.  They  have  no  knowl- 
edge of  agriculture,  but  depend  entirely  on  game  for  subsistence,  and  of  old  they 
relied  chiefly  on  the  buffalo,  which  once  descended  in  large  herds  to  their  region  on 
the  approach  of  winter.  Diiring  the  summer  months,  when  the  buffalo  returned  to 
their  northern  pastures,  these  Indians  were  often  exposed  to  suffering,  and  found  it 
difficult  to  procure  adequate  sustenance;  but  they  have  a  rare  capacity  for  enduring 
hunger,  and  manifest  great  patience  under  its  infliction.  After  long  abstinence  they 
eat  voraciously,  and  without  apparent  inconvenience. 

They  have  no  traditions  having  the  slightest  probability  which  run  farther  back 
than  the  third  generation.  Their  means  of  knowledge  of  the  past  are  altogether 
oral,  and  their  memories  are  unaided  by  monuments  of  any  description.  They  have 
no  songs,  legends,  or  other  mementos  to  perpetuate  the  illustrious  deeds  of  their 
progenitors.  In  1819  their  principal  chief,  who  was  generally  recognized  as  the  head 
of  the  three  bands,  was  called  Fmrow-a-kifly, — that  is.  Little  Bear.  He  was  a 
Tcnawa,  and  was  a  brave,  enterprising,  and  intelligent  savage,  much  superior  to  his 
tribe  in  general.  He  Wiis  celebrated  for  his  taciturnity  and  sedateness.  It  was  said 
of  him  that  he  never  laughed  except  in  battle.  His  habitual  taciturnity  was  not 
of  that  affected  kind  which  is  sometimes  adopted '  among  the  more  enlightened  as  a 
convenient  substitute  for  and  type  of  wisdom. 

The  authority  of  their  chiefs  is  rather  nominal  than  positive,  more  advisory  than 
compulsive,  and  relies  more  upon  personal  influence  than  on  investment  into  office. 
They  have  a  number,  altogether  indefinite,  of  minor  chiefs  or  captains,  who  lead  their 
small  predatory  bands,  and  aro  selected  for  'eir  known  or  pretended  pro\,  ss  in  war. 
Any  one  who  finds  and  avails  himself  of  an  opportunity  for  distinction  in  taking 
horses  or  scalps,  may  aspire  to  the  honors  of  chieftaincy  ;  and  such  a  man  is  gradu- 
ally inducted  by  a  tacit  popular  consent  to  the  chieftainship,  no  such  thing  as  a 
formal  election  being  known  among  them.  They  usually  roam  in  small  subdivisions, 
varying,  according  to  the  scarcity  or  abundance  of  game,  from  twenty  to  one  hundred 
families,  more  or  less  ;  and  to  each  of  these  parties  there  will  be  one  or  more  captains 
or  head  men.  If  any  internal  social  difficulty  occurs,  it  is  adjusted,  if  adjusted  at 
all,  by  a  council  of  the  chiefs  present,  aided  by  the  seniors  of  the  lodges,  whose  ar- 
bitrament is  usually,  though  not  always,  conclusive  between  the  parties  at  variance; 
but  there  are  not  many  private  wrongs  perpetrated  among  them,  and  family  or  per- 
sonal feuds  seldom  arise.  They  live  together  in  a  degree  of  social  harmony  which 
contra.sts  strikingly  with  the  domestic  incidents  of  some  communities  that  vaunt 
their  enliirhtcnmcnt.  The  Comanches  have  no  idea  of  \\\n  practical  administration 
of  justice,  and  nulutain  no  organize!  and  authoritative  system  of  national  polity. 
One  captain  will  lead  his  willir.g  followers  to  robbery  and  carnage,  while  another, 
and  perhaps  the  big  chief  of  all,  will  eschew  the  foray  and  profess  friendship  for  the 
victims  of  the  assault.  Hence  treaties  made  with  these  untutored  savages  are  a  mere 
nullity  unle.«s  enforced  by  a  sense  of  fear  pervading  the  whole  tribe;  and  it  is  some- 


WI»i«l-ll'IIIIL»»U»»M 


THE  TRIBES. 


435 


what  difficult  to  impress  this  sentiment  upon  them,  for  they  have  a  cherished  conceit 
that  they  are  the  most  powerful  of  nations. 

They  recognize  no  distinct  rights  of  meum  et  tuum,  except  to  personal  property, 
and  they  hold  the  territory  they  occupy,  and  the  game  that  pastures  upon  it,  as 
common  to  all  the  tribe.  They  are  usually  very  liberal  in  the  distribution  of  their 
provisions,  especially  in  a  time  of  scarcity.  Their  horses  and  mules  are  kept  with 
proper  caution,  in  separate  cavalcades.  Enterprising  individuals  will  sometimes  own 
from  one  to  three  hundred  head  of  mules  an  J  horses,  mainly  the  spoils  of  war.  These 
constitute  their  principal  articles  of  exchange  for  the  goods  their  convenience  or  fancy 
may  require.  They  sell  some  buffalo  robes,  which  are  dressed,  and  sometimes  painted 
with  considerable  taste,  by  the  women.  Prisoners  of  war  belong  to  the  captors,  and 
may  be  sold  or  released  at  their  will. 

They  are  sufficiently  astute  in  dealing,  but  are  quite  ignorant  of  the  real  vclue 
of  many  articles  they  purchase,  and  hence  are  liable  to  be  egregiously  imposed  upon. 
A  prompt  delivery  on  both  parts  is  the  best  mode  to  secure  payment.  When  goods 
are  delivered  to  them  on  cred't,  they  are  either  gambled  off,  or  distributed  by  dona- 
tions to  friends,  in  a  few  days ;  and  then  the  improvident  debtor  "  loves  his  horses," 
and  lets  them  go  with  reluctance,  if  at  all.  An  obstinate  refusal  to  pay  is  difficult 
to  overcome :  payment  has  occasionally  been  compelled,  but  the  combined  influence 
of  several  of  the  most  powerful  chiefs  in  council  was  necessary  to  effect  it. 

The  Comanches  compute  numbers  by  the  fingers,  decimals  by  one  or  both  hands 
spread  out,  and  the  duplication  of  decimals  by  slapping  both  hands  together  to  the 
number  required.  They  keep  no  accounts  in  hieroglyphics  or  devices  of  any  kind, 
but  rely  entirely  upon  memory,  their  commercial  transactions  being  few  and  simple. 

They  have  made  but  small  advances  in  the  use  of  medicines,  and  have  no  deter- 
minate knowledge  of  the  pathology  of  diseases.  They  have  a  very  potent  and  effi- 
cacious vegetable  remedy  for  the  bite  of  venomous  reptiles.  They  are  expert  in 
curing  gunshot  wounds,  and  in  the  treatment  of  fractured  limbs,  which  they  bandage 
with  neatness  and  good  effect.  They  have  no  knowledge  of  the  art  of  amputation, 
and  if  gangrene  supervenes  in  any  case  it  is  remediless.  They  believe  in  divei-s 
amulets  and  other  mystic  influences,  and  have  a  custom  of  "  singing  for  the  sick," 
when  a  crowd  assembles  at  the  lodge  of  the  sick  person  and  makes  all  sorts  of  hideous 
noises,  vocal  and  instrumental,  the  object  of  which  is  to  scare  away  the  disease.  It 
is  certainly  bettor  calculated  to  affright  than  to  soothe.  Their  diet  and  all  their 
liabits  are  simple,  and  they  are  strangers  to  strong  drink,  or  "  fire-water,"  as  they 
significantly  call  alcoholic  liquors.  They  have  no  piiysicians,  and  have  not  much 
use  for  any,  for  thero  are  few  diseases  prevalent  among  them.  Fevers  sometimes 
occur,  but  are  not  understood  either  in  their  pathology  or  their  manner  of  cure :  they 
are  generally  intermittent  and  of  a  very  mild  typo.  They  have  no  professed  prac- 
titioners in  obstetrics.  The  smallpox  was  introduced  among  them  in  1837,  and 
swept  off  a  groat  number.  It  prevailed  but  a  short  time,  or  the  nation  would  iiave 
become  extinct,  for  very  few  who  contracted  the  disease  survived  its  ravages.  Their 
mode  of  treatment  was  calculated  to  increase  the  mortality.     The  patients  were 


436 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


i4 


% 


Btrictly  confined  to  their  lodges,  excluded  from  the  air,  and  almost  BufTocated  with 
heat.  In  many  instances,  while  under  the  maddening  influence  of  the  disease,  exas- 
perated by  a  severe  paroxysm  of  fever,  they  would  rush  to  the  water  and  plunge 
beneath  it.     The  result  was  invariably  fatal. 

The  Comanche  costume  is  simple,  though  often  variegated.  It  consists  generally 
of  a  buffalo  robe  worn  loosely  around  the  person  and  covering  the  whole  of  the 
ankles.  This  is  sometimes  painted,  or  ornamented  with  beads  on  the  skin  side,  or  on 
both.  They  prefer  a  large  mantle  of  scarlet  or  blue  cloth,  or  one-half  of  each  color, 
except  in  very  cold  weather,  when  the  robe,  the  hair  turned  in,  is  more  comfortable. 
The  breech-cloth  is  usually  of  blue  stroud,  and  descends  to  the  knees.  The  leg- 
gings, made  long,  are  of  dressed  deer-skin,  or  blue  or  scarlet  cloth,  garnished  with  a 
profusion  of  beads  and  other  gewgaws.  The  head-dress  is  as  various  as  their  fancies 
can  suggest  and  their  means  supply.  Parrow-a-kifty's  parade  head-dress  was  a  cap 
made  of  the  scalp  of  a  buifalo  bull,  with  the  horns  attached  in  proper  position.  He 
ordinarily  wore  few  ornaments.  The  young  men,  the  exquisites  of  the  tribe, — and 
no  people,  savage  or  civilized,  are  more  addicted  to  the  fanciful  in  dress, — bedaub 
their  faces  with  paints  of  divers  kinds  and  colors,  red,  black,  and  white  predominating. 
These  they  obtain,  for  the  most  part,  from  the  different  minerals  of  their  country, 
without  chemical  elaboration.  Vermilion  is  much  admired,  but  is  generally  too 
costly  for  habitual  use.  They  sometimes  load  theit-  heads  with  feathers,  arranged  in 
lofty  plumes,  or  dangling  in  the  air  in  pensile  confusion,  or  woven  into  ar  immense 
hood.  The  hair  is  often  besmeared  with  a  dusky-reddish  clay,  and  horse-hair,  cow- 
tails,  or  any  other  analogous  material  is  attached  to  the  conglomerate  mass  until  the 
huge  compound  cue  will  descend  to  the  heels  of  the  Avcarer.  They  wear  arm-bands, 
from  one  to  ten  or  more  on  each  arm,  made  of  brass  wire  about  the  size  of  a  goosc- 
quill ;  nose-pieces  of  shell,  or  bone,  or  silver ;  and  ear-pendants  of  strung  beads  or 
anything  they  fancy  and  can  procure.  They  know  nothing  of  the  origin  of  these 
customs  of  decoration,  and  have  as  little  reason  for  them  as  the  more  civilized  dandy 
has  for  his  changeful  fancies.  When  in  their  actual  war-dress,  the  Comanches 
aj>proach  to  absolute  nudity.  When  about  to  attack  an  enemy,  which  they  always 
do  on  horseback,  they  disrobe  themselves  of  everything  but  the  breech-cloth  and 
moccasins.  Their  saddles  are  light,  with  high  pommels  and  cantles,  and  they  never 
encumber  their  horses  with  useless  trappings. 

The  women  are  held  in  small  estimation  ;  they  are  "  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers 
of  water"  for  their  indolent  and  supercilious  lords.  They  pay  much  less  attention  to 
j)ersonal  adornment  than  the  men,  and  appear,  in  the  degradation  of  their  social 
condition,  t)  have  retained  but  little  self-respect.  They  are  disgustingly  lllthy  in 
their  porso'is,  and  seemingly  as  debased  in  their  moral  as  in  their  physical  constitu- 
tion. They  are  decidedly  more  ferocious  and  cruel  to  prisoners  than  tiie  men,  among 
whom  may  sometimes  be  witnessed  faint  indications  of  a  benevolent  nature.  It  is 
an  ancient  custom  to  surrender  a  prisoner  to  the  women  for  torture  for  tiie  lirst  threts 
days  of  his  arrival  among  them.  These  fiends  stake  out  the  unhappy  victim  by 
day, — that  is,  fasten  him  on  his  back  to  the  ground,  with  his  limbs  stretclied  out  by 


TUE  TRIBES. 


437 


cords  and  stakes.  At  evening  he  is  released  and  taken  to  the  dance,  where  he  is 
placed  in  the  centre  of  a  living  circle,  formed  by  the  dense  mass  of  his  tormentors, 
and  made  to  dance  and  sing,  while  the  furies  of  the  inner  line  beat  him  with  sticks 
and  thongs  of  raw-hide,  with  great  diligence  and  glee,  until  their  own  exertions 
induce  fatigue,,  when  he  is  remanded  to  his  ground-prison  to  abide  a  series  of  small 
vexations  c'uring  the  coming  day  and  a  repetition  of  the  fell  orgies  the  ensuing 
night.  At  the  expiration  of  the  three  days  he  is  released  from  their  custody,  exempted 
from  further  annoyance,  and  tiiken  to  the  lodge  of  his  captor  to  enter  upon  his  servi- 
tude. This  course  is  not  universal,  however.  Adult  prisoners  are  sometimes  delib- 
erately put  to  death  with  protracted  tortures,  when  the  party  taking  them  have 
suffered  much  loss  of  life  in  the  foray.  At  such  times  these  savages  will  eat  a  portion 
of  the  flesh  of  their  victims,  and  so  far  they  are  liable  to  the  charge  of  being  canni- 
bals. But  they  eat  to  gratify  a  spirit  of  revenge,  and  not  to  satiate  a  morbid  appetite. 
Cannibalism,  disgusting  in  all  its  phases,  is  with  them  a  purely  metaphysical  passion. 
It  is  perhaps  more  abhorrent  to  a  correct  moral  sense,  though  less  loathsome,  than 
that  which  results  from  mere  brutal  appetite.  When  boys  or  girls  are  captured,  they 
are  not  subjected  to  any  systematic  punishment,  but  are  immediately  domiciliated  in 
the  family  of  the  captor.  If  docile  and  tractable,  they  are  seldom  treated  with  ex- 
cessive cruelty.  They  are  employed  in  menial  services,  and  occasionally,  in  process 
of  time,  are  emancipated  and  marry  into  the  tribe,  when  they  become  de  facto 
Comanches. 

Polygamy  to  an  indefinite  extent  is  permitted.  One  chief,  Carno-san-tua,  the  son 
of  America,  a  name  of  Mexican  bestowment,  had  ten  wives,  all  of  whom  seemed  to 
live  together  in  uninterrupted  harmony,  although  one  of  them  was  evidently  the 
favorite.  Wives  are  divorced  unceremoniously  by  the  husbands,  and  sometimes 
marry  again.  Infidelity  on  the  part  of  the  wife  is  punished  by  cutting  off  the  nose. 
The  excision  is  made  from  the  lower  extremity  of  the  cartilage  diagonally  to  the  lip. 
The  women  do  all  the  menial  work.  They  often  accompany  their  husbands  in 
hunting.  The  men  kill  the  game,  the  women  butcher  and  transport  the  meat,  dress 
the  skins,  etc.  Several  women  will  sometimes  accompany  a  war-party,  when  they 
act  as  hostlers  and  servitors  generally.  When  in  the  enemy's  country,  and  near  the 
scene  of  intended  assault,  the  party  select  some  sequestered  sjiot,  in  a  tlense  thicket 
or  chapparal,  if  possible,  where  they  encamp,  deposit  their  feeble  horses  and  surj)lus 
baggage,  with  a  few  of  the  p<»ed  or  inefficient  warriors  and  the  women  as  a  camp- 
guard,  while  they  sally  out,  usually  by  moonlight,  in  quest  of  prey.  They  war  for 
8j)oils,  and  their  favorite  spoils  are  horses  and  mules.  They  often  drive  off  several 
hundreds  of  these  from  a  single  Mexican  ranch  on  one  foray.  The  Comanches  are 
not  deficient  in  natural  courage,  and  no  people  excel  them  in  the  art  of  horseman- 
ship, and  few,  if  any,  in  the  use  of  the  bow  and  the  javelin,  l)oth  of  which  weapons 
they  handle  with  great  dexterity  on  horseback.  As  foot-soldiei-s  they  are  comj)ara- 
tively  of  little  account,  but  they  are  never  found  on  foot  by  an  enemy,  except  by 
surprise.  They  use  ligivt  shot-guns,  having  an  aversion  to  the  weight  of  the  rifle. 
Experience  has  taught  them  to  dread  this  formidable  weapon  in  the  hands  of  our 


438 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


V\y     •■^1 


brave  frontiersmen,  and  to  this  sentiment  may  be  attributed  much  of  their  forbear- 
ance from  hostilities.  They  are  generally  men  of  good  stature,  there  being  among 
them  very  few  instances  of  diminutive  size  or  personal  deformity.  They  use  a  shield 
made  of  raw  buffalo-hide  contracted  and  hardened  by  an  ingenious  application  to  fire. 
It  is  oval  or  circular,  about  two  feet  in  diameter,  and  is  worn  on  the  lefl  arm.  It  will 
effectually  arrest  an  arrow,  but  is  not  proof  against  a  rifle-ball. 

The  geographical  knowledge  of  the  Comanches  is  confined  within  the  small  limits 
of  their  own  actual  observation.  All  beyond  is,  to  their  minds,  obscure  and  doubtful, 
and  an  Indian's  doubt  is  positive,  unqualified  disbelief  They  are  excessively  incred- 
ulous of  any  facts  in  relation  to  other  countries  that  conflict  with  their  own  experi- 
ence. They  have  no  settled,  intelligible  notion  of  the  form  or  constitution  of  our 
j)lanet,  and  none  of  the  great  planetary  system.  They  know  the  north  star,  and  are 
guided  by  it  in  their  nocturnal  journeys.  They  call  it  karmeadtdsheno, — literally, 
"  not-moving  star."  They  recognize  the  sun  as  the  great  fountain  of  heat,  but  of  its 
nature,  or  of  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  tliey  know  nothing.  They  refer  to 
the  lapse  of  time  by  counting  the  colds  and  heats, — that  is,  the  winters  and  summers ; 
and  although  they  pay  much  attention  to  the  phases  of  the  moon,  the  revolutions  of 
that  planet  are  too  frequent  and  would  soon  involve  too  high  numbers  to  constitute 
a  means  of  computing  the  chronology  of  events  that  have  taken  place  more  than  a 
year  ago.  For  short  periods,  past  or  future,  they  (iount  by  moons,  from  full  to  full. 
The  time  of  day  they  determine  by  the  apparent  position  of  the  sun  in  the  heavens. 

The  Comanche  notions  of  religion  are  as  crude,  imperfect,  and  limited  as  their 
ideas  of  geography  and  astronomy.  They  believe  in,  or  have  some  indefinite  tradi- 
tional idea  of,  the  Great  Spirit,  but  have  no  mode  of  worship,  except  that  early  in 
the  morning  a  shield,  such  as  they  use  in  war,  is  elevated  on  the  point  of  a  javelin 
(the  hilt  in  the  ground),  and  invariably  facing  the  east.  They  believe  in  witchcraft, 
and  sometimes  attribute  their  ailments  to  the  magical  influence  of  some  subtile  and 
malignant  enemy.  They  held  the  Kitchies,  a  small  and  distinct  tribe  formerly 
residing  on  the  waters  of  the  Trinity  River,  in  peculiar  detestation,  on  account  of 
their  supposed  powers  of  sorcery.  They  imagine  that  good  men  (and  adroitness  and 
daring  in  taking  scalps  or  stealing  horses  are  capital  evidences  of  goodness)  are 
translated  at  death  to  elysian  hunting-grounds,  where  buffalo  are  always  abundant 
and  fat.  The  reverse  of  this  maximum  of  Coniaiiohe  felicity  is  assigned  to  the 
wicked.  In  order  to  facilitate  the  posthumous  enjoyments  of  a  deceased  warrior, 
they  sacrifice  some  of  his  best  horees,  and  bury  in  his  grave  his  favorite  implements 
of  the  chase  for  his  future  use.  They  have  no  determinate  idea  of  the  locality  of 
these  imaginary  hunting-grounds.  They  mourn  for  the  dead  systematically  and 
|)eriodically  with  great  noise  and  vehemence;  and  on  these  occiisions  the  female  rela- 

c's  of  tlje  deceased  scarify  their  arms  and  legs  with  sharp  flints  until  the  blood 
ickles  from  a  thousand  pores.     The  duration  of  these  lamentations  depends  on  the 
tjii  'ity  and  estimation  of  the  deceased,  varying  from  three  to  five  or  seven  days,  after 
which  the  curtain  of  oblivion  seems  to  be  drawn  around  the  grave. 

No  order  of  priesthood,  nor  anything  analogous  to  it,  exists  among  them.    If  they 


i 

fl 

i 

f 

': 

iili 

THE   TRIBES. 


489 


recognize  any  ecclesiastical  authority  whatever,  it  resides  in  their  chiefs ;  but  their 
religious  sentiments  arc  entirely  too  loose,  vague,  and  inoperative  to  have  produced 
any  such  institution.  The  elevation  of  the  shield  is  the  only  act  that  affords  the 
slightest  indication  of  religious  concernment,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  they  have  any 
opinions  relative  to  future  rewards  and  punishments  that  exercise  any  moral  influence 
upon  them.  They  have  nothing  like  a  system  of  mythology,  neither  do  they  enter- 
tain any  religious  myths  of  a  traditionary  or  settled  character. 

Robert  S.  Neighbors,  special  agent  to  this  tribe,  communicated  the  following 
information  respecting  them  to  Mr.  Schoolcraft : 

"The  (!omp,nches  know  nothing  positively  of  their  own  origin,  and  their  tradi- 
tions on  thio  point  are  very  vague  and  unsatisfactory.  They  believe  they  have  always 
lived  near  the  same  country  they  now  occupy,  and  they  know  of  but  one  migration 
of  their  tribes ;  this  took  place  many  years  since,  when  they  travelled  from  the  west, 
and  met  with  what  they  term  the  '  Mountain  Spaniards,'  in  the  mountains  of  New 
Mexico.  They  lived  with  them  many  years,  and  the  two  peoples  intermarried  with 
each  other.  The  first  chief  they  recollect  was  named  *  Ish-shu-ku'  (Wolf-house) : 
he  was  a  great  and  wise  chief.  At  the  time  he  lived  they  resided  in  Mexico.  From 
thence  they  visited  the  prairies  for  the  purpose  of  hunting,  and  intermarried  with 
the  other  tribes  inhabiting  those  regions.  These  were  the  Wacos,  Tah-wac-car-ros, 
Toriuash,  and  branches  of  the  Pawnee  tribes. 

"They  call  themselves  * Na-uni,' which  signifies  'first  alive,*  or  'live  people.' 
They  are  called  Comanche  by  the  Mexicans,  Nar-a-tah  by  the  Wacos,  Tah-wac-car- 
ros,  etc.,  Par-too-ku  by  the  Osages,  and  Sow-a-to  by  the  Caddoes.  When  they  came 
from  the  west  there  were  no  people  living  on  the  lands  they  now  occupy.  The  first 
white  people  they  saw  were  on  the  west  side  of  the  Rio  Grande  or  Del  Norte.  They 
lived  there  at  that  time,  and  made  a  treaty  with  the  white  traders  that  they  met. 
They  got  the  first  tobacco  from  the  Wacos,  who  raised  it  themselves,  but  they  are 
ignorant  at  what  time  this  took  place. 

"  They  have  an  imperfect  tradition  that  another  race  of  people  inhabited  this 
country  before  them,  and  that  there  was  a  great  flood  of  waters  which  covered  the 
whole  earth,  and  that  the  inhabitants,  who  they  suppose  were  white  and  civilized, 
were  metamorphosed  into  '  white  birds'  and  flew  away,  by  which  means  they  saved 
themselves  from  being  destroyed.  After  this,  they  believe,  the  Great  Spirit  made  the 
Comanches  on  this  continent. 

"  They  have  never  heard  of  any  animals  except  those  which  are  generally  known 
in  this  region ;  neither  are  they  aware  of  anything  connected  with  crossing  the  large 
waters.  The  first  war  they  recollect  was  with  the  Lipans,  a  branch  of  the  Apaches. 
They  believe  in  and  venerate  several  deities.  They  worship  one  Supreme  Being, 
who  they  think  inhabits  a  country  above  the  sun.  The  sun,  moon,  and  earth  are 
their  principal  objects  of  worship, — the  sun  as  the  primary  cause  of  all  living  things, 
the  moon  as  the  god  of  night,  and  the  earth  as  our  common  mother.  They  believe 
that  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit  is  supreme,  that  he  dispenses  good  and  evil  at  his 
will,  also  life -and  death. 


iiie 


if 


I  I 


440 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


I 


"  They  use  many  charms,  and  arc  very  superstitious.  All  charms  are  supposed  to 
be  derived  from  the  Great  Spirit,  which  they  buy  from  their  '  medicine-men.'  They 
offer  him  many  sacrifices.  The  first  puff  of  smoke  is  offered  to  the  Supreme,  the 
second  to  the  sun,  the  third  to  the  earth,  and,  afler  these,  to  whatever  they  venerate. 
The  first  morsel  of  what  they  intend  to  eat  is  presented  to  the  Great  Spirit,  and  then 
buried  in  the  ground.  All  their  implements  of  war  are  made  by,  or  undergo  charms 
from,  their  priests  or  magicians,  who  practise  charms  for  the  purpose.  Their  shields 
are  made  in  imitation  of  the  sun,  and  before  going  to  war  they  are  stuck  upon  their 
lances  facing  the  rising  sun,  and  no  person  is  permitted  to  handle  or  touch  them 
except  their  owners.  They  believe  that  they  were  made  by  a  secondary  spirit,  who 
was  sent  down  to  the  earth  by  the  Supreme.  When  he  first  made  tiiem,  they  were 
imperfect.  The  spirit  returned  to  the  Supreme,  and  told  what  he  had  made.  He 
was  then  directed  to  return  and  complete  his  work  by  giving  the  beings  he  had  cre- 
ated sense,  and  to  instruct  them  how  to  live.  He  taught  them  how  to  make  bows  and 
arrows,  and  gave  them  horses,  etc. 

"  They  have  no  accounts :  all  their  business  transactions  are  simple  trade  and  barter. 
They  are  ignorant  of  the  elements  of  figures,  even  of  a  perpendicular  stroke  for  1, 
11,  etc.  They  make  no  grave-posts  or  monuments  indicating  the  rank  of  a  deceased 
person.  There  is  little  known  of  their  medicines.  So  far  as  has  been  discovered, 
these  are  confined  to  simple  roots  and  herbs.  They'trust  chiefly  to  incantations  made 
by  the  medicine-men,  who  also  bleed  in  fevers  by  scarification  on  the  part  affected, 
but  their  principal  treatment  in  diseases  is  starvation.  They  do  not  understand 
amputation,  but  bind  up  a  broken  limb  with  splints.  Their  litters  for  conveying  the 
wounded  or  sick  are  composed  simply  of  two  poles,  with  skins  stretched  across  them, 
and  long  enough  to  be  supported  by  a  horse  in  front  and  rear. 

"  The  position  of  a  chief  is  not  hereditary,  but  the  result  of  his  own  superior  cun- 
ning, knowledge,  or  success  in  war,  or  some  act  or  acts  that  rank  him  according  to 
his  merits.  The  subjects  under  discussion  in  council  are  at  all  times  o{)en  to  popular 
opinion,  and  the  chiefs  are  the  main  cx])onents  of  it.  The  democratic  principle  is 
strongly  implanted  in  the  tribe.  The  chiefs  consult  principally  the  warrior  class, 
and  the  weaker  minds  are  wholly  influenced  by  popular  opinion.  War-chiefs  com- 
mit hostilities  without  consulting  the  other  tribes.  Any  propositions  or  treaties  pro- 
posed by  the  whites  are  discussed  privately,  and  the  answer  given  by  the  chief  as  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  tribe.  In  deliberations  in  council  they  consult  each  other, 
and  one  addresses  the  meeting.  The  council  is  opened  by  passing  the  council-pipe 
from  one  to  the  other,  and  invoking  the  Deity  to  preside.  It  is  conducted  with  great 
propriety,  and  closed  in  the  same  manner.  There  is  one  appointed  as  crier  or  mes- 
senger, whose  duty  it  is  to  fill  the  j)ipe,  etc.  Questions  of  importance  are  deliberately 
considered,  and  considerable  time  frequently  elapses  before  they  arc  answered,  but 
they  are  all  decided  on  the  principle  of  ap])arent  unanimity.  Capital  punishments 
are  rare,  eac-h  party  acting  generally  for  himself,  and  avenging  his  own  injuries. 
Each  chief  is  ranked  according  to  his  popularity,  and  his  rank  is  maintained  on  the 
same  principle.     A  chief  is  (le2)rived  of  his  office  by  any  misfortune,  such  as  loss  of 


TUE  TRIBES. 


441 


many  men  in  battle,  or  even  a  signal  defeat,  or  being  taken  prisoner,  but  never  for 
any  private  act  unconnected  with  the  welfare  of  the  whole  tribe.  They  have  no 
medals  except  those  lately  given  them,  and  these  are  worn  more  aa  symbols  of  peace 
than  as  marks  of  distinction  among  themselves.  The  priesthood  appear  to  exercise 
no  influence  in  their  general  government,  but,  on  war  being  declared,  they  exert 
their  influence  with  the  Deity.  Any  principal  chief  has  a  right  to  call  a  general 
council  of  his  own  tribe,  and  a  council  of  all  the  tribes  is  called  by  the  separate 
chiefs  of  each  tribe.  The  principal  chiefs  have  shown  every  disposition  to  advance 
in  civilization,  and  only  require  the  co-operation  of  the  Americans  to  influence  their 
followers  in  the  same  course. 

"  No  individual  action  is  considered  aa  a  crime,  but  every  man  acts  for  himself 
according  to  his  own  judgment,  unleso  some  superior  power — for  instance,  that  of  a 
popular  chief — should  exercise  authority  over  him.  They  believe  that  when  they 
were  created,  the  Great  Spirit  gave  them  the  privilege  of  a  free  and  unconstrained 
use  of  their  individual  faculties.  They  do  not  worship  any  Evil  Spirit,  and  are  not 
aware  of  its  existence,  attributing  everything  to  the  Great  Spirit,  whether  it  be  good 
or  evil.  They  use  fire  in  all  their  religious  observances  and  dances,  or  medicine- 
making. 

"  They  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the  souls  dwelling  in  their  happy  hunt- 
ing-grounds, but  have  no  definite  idea  of  the  transit  from  this  life  to  another.  The 
ties  of  consanguinity  are  very  strong,  not  only  with  regard  to  their  blood  relations, 
but  also  with  regard  to  relations  by  marriage,  etc.,  who  are  considered  as,  and  gen- 
erally called,  '  brothers.'  Offences  committed  against  any  member  are  avenged  by 
all,  or  by  any  member  connected  with  the  family.  In  this  nation  a  hunter  will 
generally  supply  a  sufficiency  of  food  and  clothing  for  one  family.  The  marriage 
state  only  continues  during  the  pleasure  of  the  parties,  as  a  man  claims  the  right  to 
divorce  himself  whenever  he  chooses.  Polygamy  is  practised  to  a  great  extent,  some 
chiefs  having  more  than  ten  wives,  but  inconstancy  is  the  natural  result  of  it,  and 
this  offence  is  frequently  punished  by  cutting  off"  the  nose  of  the  transgressor,  and 
sometimes  even  by  death ;  but  more  frequently  the  woman  escapes  unpunished,  and 
the  seducer  is  deprived  of  all  his  available  property,  which  is  yielded  to  the  injured 
party,  by  custom,  without  resistance.  The  women  perform  all  manual  labor,  war  and 
hunting  being  all  ihe  occupation  of  the  men.  Jealousy  is  frequently  a  great  cause 
of  discord,  but  the  husband  exercises  unbounded  authority  over  the  person  of  his 
wife.  Their  lodges  are  generally  neat,  and  on  the  entrance  of  a  stranger  the  owner 
of  a  lodge  designates  the  route  he  shall  pass,  and  the  seat  he  shall  occupy.  Any 
infringement  of  this  rule  is  liable  to  give  offence. 

"  They  are  formal  and  suspicious  to  strangers,  but  hospitable  and  social  to  those 
they  consider  their  friends.  They  have  no  regular  meals,  but  eat  when  they  feel 
hungry,  each  party  helping  himself,  and  joining  in  the  meal  without  invitation  or 
ceremony.  The  parenta  exercise  full  control  in  giving  their  daughters  in  marriage, 
they  being  generally  jmrcluised  at  a  stipulated  price  by  their  suitors.  There  is  no 
marriage  ceremony  of  any  description.     They  enter  the  marriage  state  at  a  very 

5U 


m 


!-:  I) 


442 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


early  age,  frequently  before  the  age  of  puberty.  The  children  are  named  from  some 
circumstance  in  tender  years,  but  the  name  is  frequently  changed  in  after-life  on 
account  of  some  act  of  importance.  Whatever  children  are  stolen  from  their  enemies 
are  incorporated  in  the  family  to  whom  they  belong,  and  are  treated  like  their  own 
children,  without  distinction  of  color  or  nation.  There  is  considerable  respect  shown 
by  the  younger  branches  of  the  community  to  the  patriarchal  chiefs  of  the  tribe. 

"  When  they  make  a  sacrctl  pledge  or  promise,  they  call  upon  the  Great  Spirit  as 
their  father,  and  the  earth  as  their  mother,  to  testify  to  the  truth  of  their  assevera- 
tions. Their  talk  in  council  is  short,  and  oratorical  powers  are  held  in  snudl  esteem, 
but  good  judgment  is  in  high  cstinuition.  The  children  are  practised  at  u  very  early 
age  in  the  use  of  the  bow  and  arrow,  but  the  chiefs  and  principal  braves  are  accus- 
tomed to  the  use  of  the  shot-gun  and  rille,  without  dispensing  with  the  bow  and  arrow, 
which  are  always  carried  and  used  in  war.  When  a  chieftain  wishes  to  go  to  war, 
he  declares  his  intentions,  and  the  preliminaries  are  discussed  at  a  war-dance.  When 
the  afl'air  is  agreed  upon,  a  certain  place  is  designated  near  the  point  of  action,  where 
to  congregate  at  a  specified  time,  to  which  place  the  chiefs  repair,  the  warriors  pro- 
ceeding separately  in  small  bands  by  various  routes,  in  order,  if  discovered,  to  deceive 
the  enemy  as  to  the  lunut  of  attack,  and  to  procure  subsistence,  each  party  living  on 
the  produce  of  the  chase,  no  provisions  being  carried  for  public  use.  They  fight  on 
horsebiick,  with  whatever  arms  they  can  procure,  but  their  princi^jal  reliance  is  on 
the  bow  and  arrow. 

"  They  are  the  most  expert  riders  in  the  world.  Men  arc  never  taken  prisoners 
by  them  in  battle,  but  are  killed  and  scalped  in  all  cases.  Women  are  sometimes 
made  prisoners,  in  which  case  their  chastity  is  uniformly  violated. 

"  The  Comanches  have  dances  of  various  descriptions,  and  women  are  frequently 
admitted  to  them,  but  the  women's  dances  are  entirely  distinct  from  those  of  the  men. 
Thcj  have  contests  in  racing,  and  several  games  of  chance.  Their  principal  game 
is  the  same  as  in  all  the  Northern  bands,  called  *  bullet,'  '  button,'  etc.,  which  con- 
sists in  changing  a  bullet  rapidly  from  one  hand  to  the  other,  accompanied  by  a  song 
to  which  they  keep  time  with  the  motion  of  their  arms,  and  the  opposite  party 
guessing  which  hand  it  is  in.  They  sometimes  stake  all  they  possess  on  a  single 
game. 

"  When  pressed  by  hunger  from  scarcity  of  game,  they  sul)sist  on  their  young 
horses  and  mules.     The  flesh  of  the  young  wild  horse  is  considered  a  delicacy. 

"  Their  common  dress  is  the  breech-cloth  and  moccasins,  with  a  bufliilo  robe  flung 
loosely  over  the  shoulders,  but  some  have  now  begun  to  imitate  the  more  civilized 
tribes.  Tliey  have  a  great  variety  of  ornaments,  many  of  which  are  of  pure  silver, 
principally  fashioned  into  large  brooches.  Their  decorations  are  deriv(<l  from  birils 
and  shells,  which  are  bartered  to  them  by  the  traders.  The  feathers  of  the  hawk  and 
of  the  eagle  are  highly  estwmed.  They  use  several  native  dyes,  produced  from  roots. 
Vermilion,  indigo,  and  verdigris  are  sold  them  by  the  tnidcrs.  They  also  paint  with 
white  and  red  clay  on  i)articular  occiusions.  They  are  of  a  light  character,  with  a 
gay  ciist  of  mind,  and  ^f  rather  fervid  temperament.     Their  minds  are  susceptible 


I  f 


'I 


THE   TlilBKS. 


443 


of  a  considerublc  degree  of  cultivation.  ChriHtiunity  huH  never  been  introduced 
among  them.  This  tribe  is  subject  to  many  trespassers,  not  only  from  the  whites, 
but  also  from  the  neighboring  tribes  of  Indians,  who  hunt  through  portions  of  their 
country,  destroying  great  quantities  of  game. 

"  The  scarcity  of  fire-arms,  and  their  incomplete  knowledge  of  such  weapons,  long 
rendered  them  unequal  to  contend  with  the  frontier  tribes,  who  hud  obtained  ex[)cri- 
ence  from  contact  with  the  whites.  Their  burials  are  strictly  private.  When  a  man 
dies,  his  horses  are  generally  killed  and  buried,  and  all  his  principal  eifcctj^  burnt, 
— the  first  to  carry  him  to  his  paradise,  and  the  latter  for  his  use  on  his  arrival 
there.  They  formerly  also  killed  the  favorite  wife ;  but  this  custom  has  been  done 
away  with,  from  intercourse  with  the  more  civilized  Indians. 

"  The  death  of  a  chief  causes  great  tribulation  to  the  tribe.  On  such  an  occasion 
they  assemble  without  distinction,  and  bewail  his  death  with  extreme  lamentation, 
until  they  receive  from  the  relatives  of  the  deceased  sufficient  presents  to  cause  them 
to  stop ;  for  insUince,  if  a  man  want^  u  favorite  horse  belonging  to  the  brother  of  the 
deceased,  he  continues  crying  till  he  obtains  it.  When  men  are  killed  in  battle,  it  is 
a  cause  of  much  greater  lamentation  than  Avhen  they  die  a  natural  death,  and  a  much 
greater  number  of  mourners  bewail  the  loss.  The  presents  given  by  relatives  arc 
also  much  more  valuable.  The  deceased  is  packed  upon  a  horse  as  soon  as  he  expires, 
and  taken  to  the  highest  hill  in  the  neighborhood,  and  buried  privately,  without  any 
monument  to  note  the  place,  as  far  as  has  been  discovered.  The  wives  of  the  deceased 
cut  and  gush  themselves  until  exhausted  by  loss  of  blood,  and  frequently  commit 
suicide  from  extreme  grief  on  the  occasion." 

The  Comanches  and  Kiowas,  with  certain  Apaches,  confederated  under  present 
treaty  stipulations,  are  now  located  upon  a  reservation  secured  to  them  by  treaty  in 
1807,  comprising  three  million  five  hundred  and  forty-nine  thousand  four  hundred 
and  forty  acres,  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  Indian  Territory,  west  of  and  adjoin- 
ing the  Chickasaw  country.  These  wild  tribes  have  recently  moved  up  from  Fort 
Sill  to  the  Washita,  and  are  settling  down  in  small  groups  and  by  families,  and 
opening  up  separate  farms  instead  of  cultivating  one  large  body  of  land  in  common. 
In  this  way  tribal  relations  are  being  modified,  and  the  influence  of  chieftainship 
impaired.  They  have  a  school-building,  which  will  accommodate  two  hundred  pupils. 
There  are  about  four  thousand  Indians  on  this  reservation,  most  of  them  belonging 
to  the  two  first-named  tribes.  They  are  much  given  to  raiding  into  Texas,  their 
wealth  consisting  in  great  part  of  horses  and  mules,  many  of  which  have  been  stolen 
from  the  citizens  of  that  State. 

These  tribes  have  been  frequently  engaged  in  hostilities  with  the  United  States. 
The  Comanches  were  defeated  near  the  Wiishita  village,  October  1, 1858,  and  on  May 
13,  1859,  in  the  Nescatunga  Valley,  by  Major  Van  Dorn;  a  Kiowa  village  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  lodges,  on  the  Canadian,  was  destroyed  by  Colonel  Carson  in  18G4 ; 
two  hundred  Apaches  were  killed,  and  many  of  their  villages  burned,  in  Arizona,  by 
General  Ord's  command,  in  1869 ;  a  band  of  friendly  Apaches  were  massacred  near 
Camp  Grant  on  the  morning  of  April  29,  1871 ;  Maowi's  band  of  Comanches  was 


■I 


444 


THE  INDIAN  TlilBKS   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


defeated  on  ^^{'^^!lllu^«  Creek,  September  29,  1872,  l>y  Colonel  Mtickcnzic;  and 
Victoria'H  bund  of  hostile  ApacheH  wa8  dontroyed  by  the  Mexican  Culunel  Ternwati 
in  1880.  I 


r- 


M.) 


m  -i 


UTAU8. 

The  Rocky  Mountains  have  from  time  immemorial  been  the  location  of  certain 
tribes  of  IndiimH,  who  appear  at  first  to  have  souglit  shelter  there  from  sanguinary 
hunter-tribes,  roving  over  the  plains  or  slopes  on  either  side  of  the  chain;  or  it 
may  be  that  the  mounfuin-tribcs  reached  these  eminences  in  search  of  the  builalo, 
which  were  wont  to  pass  through  tlie  mountain-gorges  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year. 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  who,  in  180'),  crossed  the  range  between  the  sources  of  the  Mis- 
souri and  Columbia  Rivers,  found  its  summits  in  posseasion  of  the  Shoshone  group 
of  tribes.  These  people,  in  their  divisions,  appear  to  have  been  progressive,  at 
least  from  this  point,  towards  the  south  ;  from  about  42°,  which  is  the  verge  of  the 
Great  Salt  Lake  biisin,  they  have  diverged  towards  the  southwest  into  Californiai 
and  towards  the  southeast  into  Texas,  at  the  same  time  continuing  tiic  track  southerly 
into  New  Mexico. 

Two  distinct  tribes,  speaking  dialects  of  other  languages,  appear  as  intrusive,  or, 
at  least,  to  have  shared  with  the  Shoshone  group  this  general  position, — namely,  the 
Upsarokas,  or  Crows,,  and  the  Utidis.  The  Upsarokas,  according  to  some  traditions, 
lied  from  the  Missouri  Valley  during  a  time  of  extensive  commotions  of  the  tribes 
in  that  quarter.  The  Utahs  appear  to  have  been  progressive  from  the  south,  where, 
from  an  early  period,  they  have,  with  the  Apache  tribes,  been  residents  of  the  elevated 
plains  and  geologically  disturbed  districts  of  New  Mexico.  The  great  Colorado 
River  of  the  West  has  its  principal  origin  and  course  through  the  Utah  territories. 

Of  good,  middle-sized  stature,  and  much  strength  of  muscle,  the  Ut^ihs  are  preda- 
tory, voracious,  and  perfidious.  They  have  long  been  the  terror  of  the  Spanish  set- 
tlements of  New  Mexico,  and  have  severely  taxed  the  energies  of  the  Americans 
to  keep  thei.  .vithin  bounds.  The  use  of  the  horse  has  doubled  their  power  of 
(iepredation,  vui\  excited  their  energies  and  ambition.  To  kill  and  rob  on  foot  is  a 
far  less  exciting  exploit  for  these  Lulians  than  to  perfoon  the  same  atrocities  on 
horseback  and  lly  to  their  recesses  for  safety;  and  this  iHgbt,  too,  leads  through 
gulches  and  cafions  which  put  cavalry  at  defiance. 

From  their  mountain-fastnesses  they  made  raids  upon  their  hereditary  enemies 
the  Sioux,  Clieyeiines,  and  Arapahoes.  With  the  whites  they  have  nearly  always 
been  friendly,  the  outbreak  in  1879  being  almost  the  only  instance  on  record  to 
the  contrary.  The  rapid  settlement  of  Colorado  has  driven  them  westward  and 
deprived  them  of  the  best  part  of  their  lands,  and  negotiations  witii  them  are  now 
pending  for  the  purchase  of  their  lands  in  Colorado,  and  their  removal  thence. 

Some  of  the  more  important  bands  of  the  Utidis  are  the  Elk-Mountain  Utahs,  in 
Southeastern  Utah  ;  Pah-Vants,  on  Sevier  Lake,  southeast  of  Salt  Lake ;  San  Petes, 
on  Sevier  Lake,  and  in  San  Pete  Valley  ;  Tash  Utahs,  in  Northern  Arizona ;  Uintali 
Utahs,  in  Uintah  Valley  Reserve ;  Weber  Utahs,  northeast  of  Salt  Lake ;  Yampa 


TUE  TlilBKS, 


446 


UtaliB,  south  of  the  Uintah  Utiiha.  Tlio  Uintah  VuHoy  Reservation,  of  two  million 
Bcrea,  in  the  northeaHtern  corner  of  the  Territory,  coinpriHca  Home  of  the  bcHt  farming 
land  in  Utah,  and  w  of  Hiiflicnent  extent  to  maintain  all  the  IndianH  in  the  Territory. 
The  Weber  Utes,  numbering  about  three  hundred,  live  in  the  vicinity  of  Salt  Lake 
City,  and  HubHiut  by  hunting,  fmhing,  and  begging.  The  TimpauagoH,  numbering 
alM)ut  five  hundred,  live  Houth  of  iSalt  Luke  City  by  hunting  and  fulling.  The  Bun 
I'etea,  three  hundred  in  numl)cr,  uoiith  and  cuHt  of  the  TimpanugoH,  HulMiut  in  the 
8ume  manner.  The  I'uh-Vunts,  twelve  hundred  in  number,  occupying  the  territory 
south  of  the  (ioHhipn,  hunt  and  fish  and  cultivate  small  patehcM  of  ground.  The 
Elk-Mountain,  Yampu,  and  other  bands  live  in  the  eastern  and  southern  purtti  of  the 
Territory.  They  number  over  five  thousund ;  they  do  not  cultivate  the  soil,  but 
subsist  by  hunting  und  fishing.  They  are  wurlike  und  migrutory  in  their  habitu, 
carrying  on  a  petty  warfare  much  of  the  time  with  the  Southern  Indians.  They 
have  no  treaties  with  the  United  States,  and  receive  no  annuities  and  but  little 
assistance  from  the  government. 

I'AII-UTES. 

These  Indians,  numbering  about  six  thousund,  inhubit  the  western  part  of 
Nevada.  Two  reservations  have  been  set  apart  for  them, — the  Walker  River  and 
Pyramid  Lake  Reservations,  containing  each  three  hundred  and  twenty  thousund 
acres.  They  ure  a  peaceable,  intelligent,  ugriculturul  people,  all  weuring  citizens* 
dress,  are  geiierully  sober,  and  possess  little  property  except  ponies.  They  live  in 
tule  houses  in  winter,  and,  while  not  complaining  of  their  lot,  are  desirous  thut  the 
government,  which  does  so  much  for  those  who  ure  far  less  deserving  of  its  assistance, 
should  aid  them  in  their  efforts  to  attain  the  blessings  appertaining  to  a  higher  civ- 
ilization. Those  on  the  Walker  River  Reservation  are  cultivuting  small  patches 
of  ground.  The  Pyramid  Luke  Reservution  uffords,  in  uddition,  excellent  fishing, 
and  the  surrounding  settlements  provide  u  ready  market  for  the  surplus  catch.  They 
have  one  school,  with  thirty  scholars. 

PI-UTES. 

The  Pi-Utos,  numbering  two  thousand  five  hundred,  inhabit  the  southeastern 
part  of  Nevada,  They  have  no  reservation,  nor  any  treaty  with  the  United  States, 
but  roam  at  will,  are  very  destitute,  and  obtjiin  u  living  principuUy  by  pilfering  from 
the  whites,  although  a  few  are  engaged  in  a  small  wuy  in  farming. 

The  following  facts  ure  derived  from  the  report  of  Agent  Holman  in  1853 1 
To  the  south  of  the  Shoshones,  or  White  River,  and  on  Green  River  and  its 
tributaries,  there  once  resided  u  lurge  bund  of  the  Utah  tribe,  under  the  chief  Birne 
(One-Eye), — ubout  one  hundred  und  fitly  lodges.  They  lived  on  friendly  terms  with 
all  the  Indians,  and  were  kindly  disposed  towards  the  whites,  although  they  had 
once  been  accounted  bad  Indians.  Being  some  one  hundred  miles  from  the  emigrant 
route,  they  had  but  little  intercourse  with  the  whites,  except  the  traders  who  visited 
their  country. 


i 


440 


TUE  INDIAN   TRIliES  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


There  in  a  part  of  the  Utiih  tribe  who  reside  on  the  Elk  Moiuit;iiuH,  towards 
Taos,  in  New  Mexico.  Tliis  tribe  is  very  hirge,  and  claims  the  country  from  the  Elk 
Mountains,  west  and  southwest  of  Salt  Lake,  to  the  Sierra  Nevada.  It  is  controlled 
by  various  chiefs,  who  command  separate  bands  who  are  friendly  towards  each  other, 
all  being  of  the  Utah  tribe,  though  some  are  called  Pi-Utahs.  Home  of  these  bands 
have  been  inclined  to  rob  and  murder  the  whites  since  the  first  settlement  of  Salt 
Lake  Valley, — a  disposition  occasioned,  it  is  said,  by  the  forcible  occupation  and 
settlement  of  their  land  by  the  Mormons,  against  whom  they  make  many  grievous 
complaints. 

Another  band  of  Utahs,  called  the  Uwiuty  Utalis  (Uintah  Utahs),  were  formerly 
under  the  chief  Ca.stcl.  They  are  descendants  of  a  band  whose  chief  was  named 
Uwinty,  from  whom  the  band  and  the  valley  in  which  they  reside  take  their  desig- 
nation.    They  number  about  one  hundred  lodges. 

There  were  also  other  bands  of  these  Utahs, — one  under  the  celf^brated  chief 
Walker,  the  other  under  his  brother,  Saw-ry-ats.  They  resided  in  and  about  San 
Fete  Valley,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Salt  Lake.  They  number  one 
hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  lodges.  They  were  formerly  much  more  powerful^ 
but  have  been  greatly  reduced  in  nuuibers  by  the  attacks  of  hostile  tribes.  Walker, 
although  a  prominent  chief,  with  much  intluence  in  his  tribe,  was  not  considered  a 
great  warrior.  His  high  standing  was  a  consecjuence  of  his  daring  and  ingenious 
thefts.  He  made  akWiual  visits  to  the  Mexican  territories  south,  and  stole  horses, 
sometimes  hundreds  in  a  drove.  Upon  one  occasion  he  left  the  Mexican  country 
with  about  three  thousand,  but  was  closely  pursued,  and  driven  so  hard  that  half 
of  his  lot  gave  out,  and  were  left.  He  got  in  safe  with  the  remainder.  Upon  another 
occasion,  after  collecting  i  large  dro>e,  he  was  pursued  by  a  strong  force  of  Mex- 
icans for  several  hundred  miles.  Being  avs'are  of  the  pursuit,  he  knew  he  must  be 
overtaken  or  abandon  his  drove,  as  the  animals  were  much  fatigued,  unles.s  he  cculd 
extricate  liimself  by  stratagem.  Late  in  the  evening  he  selected  a  point  suitable 
for  operations,  and  encamped.  The  Mexicans  came  in  sight,  and  frt)m  the  careless 
appearance  of  Walker's  camp  concluded  that  he  was  not  aware  of  the  pursuit,  and, 
being  fatigued  themselves  they  determined  to  rest  for  the  night,  and  {'aj)ture  Walker 
and  his  party  in  the  morning,  iis  they  considered  it  impossible  for  him  to  escape. 
Consequently  they  lay  <lown  to  sleep,  not  dreaming  that  the  eye  of  Walker  was 
upon  them.  They  had  no  sooner  become  quiet  than  Walker  and  his  band  sur- 
rounded their  horses  and  quietly  drove  them  to  their  own  cainj),  when,  putting  all  in 
motion,  they  were  soon  safe  from  their  pursuers.  In  the  morning  the  Mexicans 
found  themselves  on  foot  and  unable  longer  to  continue  the  pursuit,  and  had  to 
retrace  their  steps  as  best  they  could,  while  Walker  leisurely  pursued  his  course 
homeward,  with  th'3  addition  of  some  one  hundred  fine  horses  to  his  band,  and 
arrived  in  safety.  He  had  been  so  successful  in  these  tiiefts,  and  they  had  been  so 
numerous,  that  the  Mexican  authorities  offered  a  reward  of  five  thousand  dollars  tor 
his  head.  This,  however,  did  not  deter  this  mountain  chief.  Whenever  i'e  wanted 
horses  he  knew  where  to  get  them,  and  never  failed  to  secure  a  good  ilrove. 


THE  TRIBES. 


447 


A  very  large  band  of  Utahs  and  Navajoes,  residing  on  the  lower  waters  of  Green 
and  Grrnd  Rivers,  and  oxter,ding  to  the  Colorado,  were  long  considered  the  most 
treacherous  and  bad  Indians  in  the  country.  They  raise  considerable  stock, — horses, 
cattle,  and  sheep ;  they  manufacture  very  beautiful  and  serviceable  blankets,  and  also 
cultivate  corn,  vegetables,  etc. 

Another  large  band  of  the  Pi-Utahs  reside  south  and  southwest  of  Salt  Lake,  on 
and  about  Lake  Sevier  and  Walker's  River,  and  occupy  the  country  as  far  as  Carson 
River  and  the  Sierra  Nevad...  They  are  in  bands  numbering  from  two  hundred  to 
four  hundred,  each  under  some  favorite  brave  or  chief,  but  all  friendly,  aa  if  com- 
posing one  united  band. 

There  are  several  tribes  or  bands  residing  on  Goose  Creek,  on  the  Humboldt  and 
Carson  Rivers,  and  in  the  mountains  adjacent  to  these  rivers.  A  large  band  of 
about  five  hundred,  a  mixture  of  Bannocks  and  Shoshones,  under  the  chief  Too-ke- 
mali  (the  Rabbit),  of  the  Bannock  tribe,  used  to  claim  the  country  about  Goose  Creek 
Mountain,  Sprin;^  "^/"aliey,  and  west  as  far  as  the  Humboldt,  extending  north  some 
two  hundred  miU's  towards  Fort  Hall. 

There  are  two  bands  of  the  "  Diggers,"  as  tliey  are  called,  principally  of  the 
Shoshone  tribe,  who  leside  near  the  Hundjoldt  River,  and  in  the  adjacent  moun- 
tains. The  first  was  once  under  the  chief  Ne-me-te-kah  (Man-Eater),  whose  band 
numbers  about  five  hundred.  They  occupied  the  countr  around  the  junction  of 
the  North  i:nd  South  Forks  of  the  Humboldt.  The  otlier,  numbering  about  four 
hundred  and  fifty,  were  under  the  chief  Oh-hah-quah  (Yellow-Skin).  This  band 
resided  in  the  neighborhood  of  Stony  Point,  a  place  made  noted  from  the  frequent 
diflic'.'.ltics  between  the  Indians  and  emigrants.  Within  the  limits  of  the  country 
cliiimed  l)y  this  band,  the  celel)rated  Porter  Rockwell,  a  Mormon,  the  same  man  wlio 
attempted  to  assassinate  Cjtnernor  Boggs,  of  Missouri,  killed  six  of  their  number. 
There  was  a  large  party,  mostly  Mormons,  returning  to  Salt  Lake  from  California  ; 
Rockwell,  seeing  tiiese  Indians  at  a  distance,  called  them  into  camp,  j)rofessed 
towards  them  the  greatest  friendship,  gave  them  provisions,  and  while  they  were 
eating  lie  drew  his  revolver  and  killed  the  whole  six.  He  took  their  horses  and 
arms,  and  left  the  Indians  lying  on  the  plains.  Many  of  the  Mormon  company, 
however,  were  much  opposed  to  tiiis  brutal  transaction.  I'^pon  another  occasion,  an 
Indian  was  killed  while  in  the  act  of  being  persaaded  u»  join  a  company  of 
]\rorm()iis.  While  one  of  the  company  drew  his  attention  by  giving  him  a  piece  of 
tobacco,  another  shot  him  dead.  They  took  his  horse  and  arms,  and  left  him  lying 
there.  These  murders,  and  otiier  deeds  of  cruelty  and  treachery,  produced  the  dirti- 
('.;"ties  wliich  afterwards  occurred  wi'.li  the  emigrants  on  this  whole  route,  all  these 
Indians  having  been  previously  friendly  to  the  whites. 

Near  the  sink  of  the  Hund)olilt  there  was  a  band,  chiefly  of  the  Bannock  tribe, 
under  the  chief  Te-vere-wena  (the  Long  Man),  nund)ering  about  six  hundred. 

In  Carson  Valley,  and  the  country  south,  there  are  several  bands  of  the  Pi-Utah 
tribe,  numbering  six  or  seven  hundred,  under  llieir  favorite  chiefs,  and  scjittered 
over  the  countrv  from  the  head  of  the  vallev  to  the  sink  of  the  river.    It  is  a  curioua 


448 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNnED  STATES. 


fact  that  wliile  the  Carson  River  lieads  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  runs  eastward,  the 
HumboJ'lt  River  heads  in  tlie  range  of  the  Humbohlt  and  Rocky  Mountains  and 
runs  westward, — the  sources  of  the  two  rivers  being  some  fifty  miles  apart.  It  is  this 
district  that  forms  the  Great  Desert,  tlie  crossing  of  which  caused  so  much  suffering 
to  California  emigrants  before  the  building  of  the  Pacific  Railroad. 


BANNOCKS,  OR    KOOT-I)IGGKRS. 

This  name  is  applied  to  an  Indian  tribe  formerly  inhabiting  a  large  extent  oi 
country  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  now  located  at  the  Wind  River  Reservation, 
Wyoming.  They  were  generally  friendly  to  the  whites,  but  in  18GG  and  again  in 
1878  they  broke  out  inio  hostilities.  The  name  witi*  undoubtedly  given  to  that  por- 
tion of  the  Indians  who  live  on  the  roots  of  the  earth.  This  practice  is  common 
to  all  the  Indians  of  California,  as  well  as  to  those  of  the  Great  Biusin  west  of  the 
►South  Pass.  With  these  tribes  roots  are,  for  the  greater  portion  of  the  year,  their 
main  subsistence,  and  to  procure  them  is  the  work  of  their  femaies.  Hundreds  of 
women  may  be  seen  at  one  time,  scattered  over  the  hills,  with  heavy,  cone-shaped 
ba.skets  swung  on  their  backs,  and  long  sticks  in  their  hands  with  which  they  dig. 
Thus  they  toil  throughout  the  day  in  "  root-digging"  for  their  subsistence,  while 
the  men  are  lounging  in  the  shade  or  engaged  in  some  of  their  games.  From  day 
to  day  the  women  pursue  this  drudgery,  and  are  mostly  able  to  procure  enough  for 
•resent  subsistence,  and  sometimes  to  lay  up  quantities  for  future  use.  With  the  early 
sun  they  ascend  the  hills,  and  continue  diligently  working  until  towards  evening, 
when  they  return  heavily  laden  with  the  fruits  of  their  labor. 

Of  the  roots  used  by  the  Indians  for  food,  the  ])ap-pa,  or  wild  potato,  is  in  many 
])iirts  the  most  abundant.  They  also  gather  great  (piantities  of  berries  of  various 
kiiids.  The  manzanito,  or  little  apple,  is  most  used  by  thenj.  These,  with  ])ine- 
seeds,  gra.ss-seeds,  and  green  clover,  and,  at  times,  small  quantities  of  fish  and  small 
game,  constitute  the  entire  food  of  the  Indians  inhabiting  the  regions  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada.  "I  have  frequently,"  says  Mr.  Adam  Johnston,  "seen  those  of  the  San 
Joa«  .u;i  Valley  eating  green  clover  with  great  avidity."  This  class  of  Indians,  the 
Root-Diggers,  are  always  found  in  warm  plac^es  which  j)roduce  (piantities  of  such 
natural  products  of  tiie  earth  ii.s  they  make  use  of.  Those  of  then:  who  live  in  the 
mountains  during  the  summer  season  descend  into  the  valleys  and  dwell  near  tiie 
streams  during  the  winter. 

As  a  rult,  the  root-digging  Indians  are  cowardly,  treacherous,  filthy,  and  indo- 
lent. 

The  manner  of  building  lodges  is  much  the  same  with  all  the  tribes.  In  the 
northern  and  colder  regions  of  the  country  tliey  excavate  the  earth  several  feet  deej) 
to  the  size  they  wish  the  lodge.  Tiicy  tiien  sink  sul)stantial  poles  into  the  ground 
around  tlie  edge  of  tlie  excavation:  these  poles  are  l)ent  over  and  drawn  together  at 
the  toj),  forming  a  douu'-like  covering.  This  is  tlien  covered  with  earth  to  the  thick- 
uesa  of  several  inches,  and  sometimes  over  one  foot,  a  small  aperture  in  the  centre  of 


THE  TRIBES. 


449 


the  top  being  left  for  the  smoke  to  escape.  Another  small  aperture  on  one  side,  of 
sufficient  size  to  admit  the  body  feet  foremost,  completes  the  structure.  These  lodges 
are  intended  for  cold  or  wet  weather ;  and  they  generally  have  others,  more  tempo- 
rary, which  they  use  in  pleasant  weather.  In  the  valleys  and  warm  regions  they 
seldom  erect  such  lodges,  except  their  sweat-house,  and  hung-ie,  or  large  house,  for 
council,  the  dance,  and  gaml  !ing.  All  other  lodgas  are  but  temporary,  consisting  of 
bushes  or  tule,  constructed  in  conical  shape,  and  appear  as  if  intended  for  shade  rather 
than  for  shelter  or  protection  from  the  weather. 

The  females  wear  their  hair  aiiort,  and  the  males  wear  theirs  quite  long.  The 
custom  of  tattooing  is  common  among  them.  They  have  no  particular  figures  or 
designs  upon  their  persona,  but  the  tattooing  is  generally  on  the  chin,  though  some- 
times on  the  wrist  and  arm.  Tattooing  has  mostly  been  seen  on  the  persons  of 
women,  and  seems  to  be  esteemed  merely  as  an  ornament,  not  apparently  indicating 
rank  or  condition. 

The  Indians  of  California  have  no  marriage  ceremony.  The  women  are  some- 
times sold  by  their  parents  for  blankets,  'esids,  or  other  consideration  ;  but  this  is  of 
rare  occurrence.  They  are  also  sometimes  taken  in  battle  from  other  tribes,  and 
appropriated  by  the  chiefs  or  captaics  of  the  conquering  tribe.  An  Indian  may  have 
as  many  wives  as  he  can  keep,  but  a  woman  cannot  have  a  plurality  of  husbands,  or 
men  to  whom  she  owes  obedience.  Sometimes  conflicting  claims  arise  between  two  or 
more  men  in  regard  to  a  woman.     These  are  usually  settled  by  the  chiefs. 

On  tlie  death  of  one  of  their  people  they  give  way  to  deep  grief  and  mourning. 
The  women  black  their  chins,  temples,  ears,  forehead,  and  hairwi'ii  pitch  or  tar. 
Indeed,  sometimes  they  black  their  entire  head,  face,  and  breasts  down  to  the  waist. 

Their  mourning  is  wild  and  impressive.  "  I  have  frequently,"  says  Mr.  Johnston, 
"been  present  at  their  funeral  rites.  On  one  occasion,  Major  Savage  and  myself 
were  overtaken  by  night  at  an  Indian  rancho,  or  village,  on  the  head-waters  of  the 
Chow-Clfillc  River,  whore  we  were  obliged  to  remain  fur  the  night.  One  of  their 
fenifl'* ."  was  at  the  j)oint  of  death,  though  we  were  not  aware  of  it  wh"n  we  lay  down. 
So  J*'  i\:\\"  after  midnight  we  were  a.vakened  by  a  single  voice  of  lamentation  in  loud 
a.  <'  '  .1'  uful  wail.  These  solitary  notes  were  continued,  at  breathing  intervals,  for 
,  •-.  ■  ,'  >io'  -s.  Then  other  voices  broke  in  from  time  to  time  as  the  females  joined  in 
the  m^rniiig.  On  day  breaking,  I  found  the  whole  camp  in  great  grief,  jumping 
and  howijii^  in  a  most  pitiful  manner. 

"After  sunrise  the  body  of  the  deceased  was  tied  up  in  her  blanket  and  rags  which 
she  jx)sse.ssed  when  living,  and  borne  to  a  spot  some  hundred  yards  distant,  where 
her  funeral  pyri'  was  being  raised.  The  entire  camp  followed,  most  of  whom  were 
crying  and  wailing  greatly.  The  body  was  laid  on  the  ground  while  the  pyre  was 
being  built.     This  occuj)ied  considerable  lime,  owing  to  the  difficulty  the  Indians  had 

""•uriny:  this  time  the  mourniiiff  wai 


gel 


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tm  in  loud  and  wild  wailings.  The  females  were  blacked  around  their  chin,  temples, 
r  IS,  and  forehead,  and  juKi})ed  and  cried  as  they  uttered  their  wild  lament.  They 
I'Mvii  •  fOilrated  themselves  upon  ^he  ground,  and  not  unfrequently  on  the  body  of 


450 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


the  deceased.  The  pyre  being  finished,  the  body  was  placed  upon  it,  with  all  her 
baskets,  beads,  and  earthly  effects.  This  done,  the  pyre  was  fired  all  around,  and,  as 
the  blaze  enveloped  the  body,  the  mourners,  who  had  continued  jumping  and  wailing, 
seemed  to  give  way  to  unbounded  grief.  During  this  scene  I  observed  the  females 
as  they  jumped  about  pointing  in  several  directions  and  ejaculating  something  I  did 
not  understand.  On  inquiry,  I  learned  they  were  pointing  towards  places  where  they 
had  been  with  the  deceased  in  childhood, — gathering  food,  feasting,  or  on  some  other 
occasions  of  pleasure, — and  they  were  crying,  '  no  more  yonder,'  '  no  more  yonder,* 
'  no  more  yonder.' 

"  During  the  whole  time  from  the  death  of  the  woman,  there  was  one  Indian  who 
gave  utterance  to  his  sorrow  in  loud  and  broken  strains.  He  was  naked,  as  were 
most  of  the  men,  except  a  small  girdle  •.  ind  the  middle.  As  he  half  cried,  half 
sung  his  sorrow,  he  would  occasionally  ;  >  mething  distinctly,  but  without 

appearing  to  address  himself  jiarticuhirly  to  i  ■  jple,  or  any  portion  of  them.  I 
learned  he  was  the  speaker,  or  what  might,  perLups,  on  this  occasion  be  termed  the 
priest,  of  the  tribe.  In  the  course  of  the  ceremony,  groups  of  Indians  would  occa- 
sionally gather  around  him.  On  one  occasion  I  observed  him  drawing  marks  in  the 
sand  as  he  spoke.  He  said,  '  We  are  like  these  lines :  to-day  we  are  here,  and  can 
be  seen ;  but  death  tnkes  one  away,  and  then  another,  as  the  winds  wipe  out  these 
lines  in  the  sand,  until  all  are  gone.' 

"  After  death  the  name  of  the  departed  is  never  breathed  among  them.  When 
death  tsikcs  one  away,  the  living  suppose  the  name  has  gone  also,  and  should  not  be 
spoken.  I  am  told  that  when  the  nan.e  of  a  deceiised  person  happens  to  be  spoken 
among  them,  a  shudder  passes  over  all  present  instantly.  They  seem  to  know  but 
little  of  the  pa.st  of  those  living,  and  to  (^ndeavor  to  forget  everything  connected  with 
the  dead." 


WICHITAS. 

The  Wichita  tribe  formerly  inhabited  the  mountain  region  of  that  name,  tilling 
the  ground,  and  exchanging  the  products  of  the  soil,  and  the  bows  and  arrows  which 
they  made,  with  the  Intlians  of  the  plains,  for  mules,  horses,  and  buffalo-robes. 
When  the  government  sent  a  party  of  engineers  to  mark  the  western  boundary  of  the 
country  given  to  the  Chickasaws,  they  guided  and  guarded  them  with  great  kindness. 
Tlie  result  disclosed  the  fact  that  their  village  was  in  the  Chickasaw  country.  Soon 
afterwards,  their  chiefs  wore  induced,  by  tlie  United  States  officers  at  Fort  Arbucklo, 
to  invite  the  Comanches  to  a  peace-council  to  be  held  with  the  officers  at  the  Wichita 
village.  They  succeeded  in  their  mission  ;  but  no  sooner  had  the  Comanches,  six 
hundred  in  number,  reached  the  vicinity  of  the  village,  than  they  were  surprised  at 
daybreak  by  Major  Van  Dorn,  with  six  companies  of  cavalry,  many  of  them  killed, 
and  all  their  property  taken  or  destroyed.  Major  Van  Dorn,  it  is  said,  had  not  been 
apprised  of  tiie  ariaiigeniont.  To  escape  the  vongeance  of  the  Comanches  for  their 
supposed  treachery,  the  unfortunate  Wichitas  fled  from  their  homes  and  became 
wanderei-s.     In  1854  they  were  placed  by  the  government  on  the  Brazos  River,  but 


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THE   TRIBES. 


461 


were  driven  thence  by  the  Texans,  and  took  refuge  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort 
Arbuckle.  When  the  rebellion  broke  out,  they  abandoned  their  homos,  following  the 
troops  north  into  Kansas.  At  its  close,  greatly  reduced  in  numbers  by  starvation 
and  diseiise,  they  returned  to  the  vicinity  of  their  old  home.  Rush  Creek.  The 
treaty  of  Medicine  Lodge  Creek  having  given  their  home  to  others,  they  have  been 
l)laced  upon  an  agency  in  the  Indian  Territory,  with  the  Kiowas,  Couianches,  and 
Apaches.  "  The  affiliated  bands  belonging  to  this  agency,"  says  the  Indian  Commis- 
sioner's Report  for  1880,  "  except  the  Caddoes  and  Delawares,  continue  to  advance  in 
industry  and  thrift.  They  wear  citizens'  dress,  live  in  houses,  cultivate  the  ground, 
and  at  times  require  but  small  issues  of  rations." 


KIOWAS, 

The  Kiowas,  a  wild,  roving  tribe  of  Shoshones,  formerly  ranged  from  the  Platte 
to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  about  the  Arkansas  and  Canadian  Rivers,  in  the  Indian 
Territory,  Colorado,  and  New  Mexico.  In  18G9  they  were  placed  on  a  reservation 
in  the  Indian  Territory,  with  the  Comanches,  Apaches,  and  other  wild  tribes.  They 
are  a  brave  but  cruel  and  treacherous  tribe.  Up  to  June,  1871,  with  short  intervals, 
they  had  made  repeated  raids  on  the  settlers  in  Western  Texas.  Returning  from  one 
of  these,  their  chief,  Satanta,  boasted  of  having  captured  a  train  and  killed  seven 
men,  and,  on  his  making  application  for  rations,  he  was  arrested  at  Fort  Sill  by  order 
of  General  Sherman.  While  Satanta,  with  other  prisoners,  was  being  taken  to  Fort 
Richardson,  he  attempted  to  kill  a  soldier,  and  wa.s  shot.  The  effect  of  arresting 
some  of  the  leading  Kiowas  and  sending  them  to  Texas  for  trial  was  most  salutary, 
and  since  this  tribe,  the  Comanches,  Apaches,  and  other  wild  tribes  have  been 
removed  to  the  Indian  Territory,  they  have  been  to  some  extent  brought  under 
civilizing  influences,  and  have  determined  never  again  to  take  up  arras  against  the 
white  man. 

At  the  opening  of  hostilities  in  the  Indian  Territory,  in  1874,  full  nine-tenths 
of  the  Kiowas  at  the  agency  were  friendly,  but  at  the  time  of  the  Wichita  fight  one- 
third  of  them  fled,  and  were  afterwards  obliged  to  surrender  as  hostilos.  Twenty-six 
leading  Kiowa  chiefs  and  braves,  including  Swan,  and  the  noted  raider  Lone  Wclf, 
were  taken  to  Fort  Marion,  with  a  number  of  Cheyenne  and  Comanche  captives.  In 
1875  the  Kiowas  sustained  a  severe  loss  in  the  death  of  Kicking  Bird,  who,  though 
a  young  man,  was  their  head  chief.  He  had  abandoned  raiding  some  years  before, 
had  gained  the  reputation  of  loyalty  to  the  government,  and  endeavored  to  promote 
the  elevation  of  his  people.  His  dying  request  to  be  buried  after  "  the  white  man's 
way"  was  carefully  complied  with. 

PUEBLOS. 

Scattered  here  and  there  over  various  parts  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  are 
found  small  towns  or  villages  of  semi-civilized  Indians,  denominated  Pueblo  Indians, 
these  last  all  having  to  some  extent  acquired  the  language  and  many  of  the  customs 


452 


TllK  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


k  \ 


and  manners  of  the  Mexican  population  of  the  country.  They  retain,  however,  most 
of  the  ancient  rites,  ceremonies,  and  customs  of  their  progenitors,  which  are  still 
sacredly  observed  among  them.  They  were  subdued  by  Coronado  in  1540.  Two 
years  later  they  threw  off  the  Spanish  yoke,  but  were  again  concjuered  in  1597-98 
by  Oflate.  In  1G80  they  again  revolted,  but  without  success.  They  became  citizens 
of  the  United  States  in  1848.  Five  dift'erent  dialects  are  spoken  in  the  nineteen 
pueblos. 

The  records  of  New  Mexico  were  destroyed  by  the  natives  in  1680,  during  the 
revolt,  and  again  in  1870,  when,  to  the  disgrace  of  the  nation,  the  acting  governor 
of  the  Territory  suffered  its  archives  to  be  sold  as  waste  paper. 

The  pueblos,  the  chief  of  which  are  Acoma,  Isleta,  Sandia,  Taos,  Laguna,  Zufli, 
and  Moqui,  are  scattered  at  intervals  throughout  the  country.  These  are  at  the  present 
time  the  most  populous,  and  the  most  noted  for  intelligence  and  for  agricultural  and 
pastoral  habits.  The  inhabi'^-^nts  of  these  pueblos,  though  part  of  the  great  abo- 
riginal race  of  the  American  continent,  differ  in  many  respects  from  the  wild  and 
marauding  tribes,  in  having  the  habits,  intelligence,  and  enterprise  of  a  semi-civilized 
jieople,  and  in  having  been  known  as  such  from  the  period  of  the  expedition  of  the 
lirst  Spanish  explorers  from  the  city  of  Mexico  in  1541-42,  when  they  were  found 
living  in  these  towns.  Through  what  means,  or  from  what  source,  this  progression 
towards  civilization  has  proceeded,  still  remains,  and  probably  ever  will  remain, 
shrouded  in  obscurity.  It  is  probable  that  they  are  descendants  of  the  Aztec  popu- 
lation who  occupied  this  country  previous  to  ita  discovery  by  the  Spaniards. 

The  traditional  "  seven  cities  of  Cibola,"  of  which  Coronado  was  in  search,  have 
been  located  by  recent  investigators  on  the  site  of  the  Zufli  group  of  pueblos  in  the 
western  part  of  New  Mexico.  Mr.  A.  F.  Bandolier,  in  his  "  Report  on  the  Iluins 
of  the  Pueblo  of  Pecos,"'  has  satisfactorily  determined  that  "Tusayan,"  which  lay 
to  the  left  of  Cibola,  must  be  the  Moqui  group  of  pueblos  in  Eastern  Arizona,  and 
that  the  rock  of  Acuno,  east  of  Cibola,  must  be  the  same  as  the  pueblo  of  Acoma, 
"  whose  remarkable  situation  on  the  top  of  a  high  isolated  rock  has  made  it  the 
most  conspicuous  object  in  New  Mexico  for  nearly  three  centuries." 

In  a  circle  of  sixty  miles  from  Santa  Fe  there  are  to  be  found  the  ruins  of  over 
forty  deserted  towns,  and  similar  ruins  in  other  localities  show  that  these  Indians 
were  once  a  powerful,  industrious,  and  intelligent  people.  These  are  the  remains  of 
the  ancient  communal  dwellings  of  the  agricultural  or  village  Indians,  ancestors  of 
the  present  race.  The  most  interesting  of  these  abandoned  pueblos  are  those  of 
Pecos,  twenty-five  miles  east  of  Santa  Fe;  Ojo  Caliente,  near  a  hot  spring  in  Rio 
Arriba  County,  New  Mexico:  and  others  in  the  Caflon  de  Chelle  and  in  Peach 
Orchard  Cafion. 

Mr.  Bandelier  concludes  that  the  ruin  of  Pecos  is  "  probably  the  largest  aborigi- 
nal structure  of  stone  within  the  United  States  so  far  described."  He  estimates  the 
number  of  compartments  contai  ed  in  it  at  five  hundred  and  eighty-five,  and  believes 

'  Papers  of  the  Arcbseolugiuul  laiititutc  of  America, — American  Series. 


THE   TRIBES. 


463 


thnt  for  size  it  will  bear  comparison  with  many  of  the  ruina  of  Mexico  and  Central 
America.  As  there  are  no  traces  of  steps,  it  is  probable  that  the  house  was  entered 
by  means  of  ladders,  us  is  still  the  custom  in  Zufli  and  Moqui.  Espcyo,  who  visited 
the  region  in  1582,  estimated  the  tribe  at  twenty-five  thousand  souls,  inhabiting  five 
towns.  The  pueblo  of  Pecos  continued  to  be  inhabited  down  to  1840,  when  the 
remnant  of  the  tribe,  dwindled  to  the  number  of  five  men,  removed  to  the  pueblo  of 
Jemes,  a  trilie  speaking  the  same  language. 

Mr.  Bandelier  identifies  this  ruined  pueblo  of  Pecos  with  the  village  of  Cicuy<5, 
to  which  Coronado  sent  an  expedition,  under  his  lieutenant  Alvarado,  in  1540. 

The  population  of  the  nineteen  pueblos  is  nine  thousand  five  hundred,  in  a  terri- 
tory containing  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty  square  miles,  of  which  Zufli 
has  three  hundred  and  thirty-six.  They  are  all  self-supporting.  The  names  of  the 
pueblos  are  Acoma,  San  Juan,  Picuris,  San  Felipe,  Pecos,  Cochiti,  Taos,  Santo  Do- 
mingo, Santa  Clara,  Tesuque,  San  Ildefonso,  Pojoaque,  Zia,  Sandia,  Isleta,  Nambe, 
Jemes,  Laguna,  Santa  Ana,  and  Zufli ;  and  besides  these  there  are  seven  Moqui 
pueblos  in  Arizona.     Jemes,  Laguna,  and  Zufli  have  each  a  school. 

Each  village  contains  an  estufa  (place  of  worship),  partly  built  under  ground, 
and  so  enclosed  that  it  cannot  be  entered  without  the  consent  of  those  in  charge.  It 
is  constructed  of  adobes,  the  usual  building-material.  Many  of  their  houses  are 
from  two  to  five  stories  high,  and  are  entered  by  ladders  reaching  to  the  roof,  from 
which  admittance  is  obtained  through  a  trap-door,  a  mode  adopted  for  security  from 
hostile  attacks.        a.,...'.        ,     ..    '.i    ■    '• 

The  high  civilization  secured  to  the  Pueblos  under  the  Spanish  rule  was  main- 
tained until  after  the  establishment  of  Mexican  independence,  when  from  want  of 
government  care  and  support,  decay  followed,  and  they  measurably  deteriorated  down 
to  the  time  when  the  authority  of  the  United  States  was  extended  over  them  :  still, 
they  are  a  remarkable  people,  noted  for  their  sobriety,  industry,  and  docility.  They 
have  few  wants,  and  are  simple  in  their  habits  and  moral  in  their  lives. 

These  people  have  their  own  laws  and  forms  of  government,  each  town  having  its 
own,  and  all  are  nearly  alike.  Each  has  its  governor,  lieutenant-governor,  cacique, 
fiscal,  superintendent  of  irrigation,  war-captain,  lieutenants,  and  constables.  These 
are  elected  annually,  except  the  cacique,  or  high-priest,  who  holds  office  for  life.  In 
nearly  all  the  villages  there  are  Roman  Catholic  chapels,  which  are  seldom  used,  as, 
notwithstanding  the  efforts  made  by  that  Church,  the  Pueblos  still  adhere  to  their 
native  belief  and  ancient  rites.  They  believe  that  Montezuma,  their  prophet,  priest, 
and  king,  was  born  in  Teguayo,  one  of  their  ancient  pueblos,  in  1480.  Governor 
Arny  was  told  by  a  venerable  Indian  that  all  the  Pueblos  in  secret  perioim  rites 
and  ceremonies  connected  with  the  looked-for  return  of  Montezuma. 

The  pueblo  of  Moqui,  and  its  six  neighboring  pueblas,  are  at  an  easy  distance 
from  the  main  residence  of  the  Navajoes.  The  following  are  the  Navajoe  names  for 
these  seven  pueblos : 

Ai-yah-kin-nee  (Moqui),  Tset-so-kit,  Qset-so-kit-pee-tsce-lee,  Kiu-ahs-tl^e,  0-zi, 
Et-tah-kin-nee.     These  six  all  speak  the  same  tongue, — a  Shoshone  variant.     The 


464 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


I 


seventh,  cuUcd  Ntih-flhah-shai  (Oroybo,  or  Huro),  B|)t>aka  a  different  language,— one 
of  the  true  Pueblo  tongues. 

ZURlB. 

The  pueblo  of  Zufli  iu  situated  in  the  western  part  of  New  Mexico,  upon  a  small 
creek  called  Rio  de  Zufii,  having  its  source  in  the  Ojo  Pescado  (fish  spring),  about 
sixteen  miles  to  the  eastward,  and  is  near  the  eastern  border  of  Arizona.  Tlic  Zuflis 
number  about  sixteen  hundred.  In  their  own  language,  which  is  not  spoken  by  the 
Indians  of  any  other  pueblo  in  New  Mexico,  they  call  themselves,  as  a  tribe,  Ah-shee- 
wai.  Like  all  other  Pueblo  Indians,  they  wear  their  hair  knotted  behind  and  bound 
with  parti-colored  braid ;  but  in  front  it  is  allowed  to  grow  so  aa  to  cover  the  entire 
forehead,  being  cut  off  sharp  and  square  at  the  line  of  the  eyebrows.  This  last,  they 
say,  is  to  enable  the  Pueblos  to  distinguish  one  another  from  the  wild  Indians. 
Their  only  head-covering  is  a  colored  handkerchief,  passed  like  a  band  from  the 
forehead  to  the  back  of  the  head.  These  Indians  physiognomically  resemble  in  all 
respects  those  of  the  more  northern  Territories  of  the  United  States.  They  say 
they  have  inhabited  their  country  since  the  world  was  made,  that  originally  they, 
in  common  with  the  wild  tribes,  came  from  the  west,  and  that  as  the  world  grew  they 
became  separated  from  one  another,  and  the  Navajoes,  being  separated  the  farthest, 
finally  established  themselves  near  the  Pueblos.  The  ZutiiB  have  many  mean  and  dis- 
agreeable traits,  being  close  and  tricky  in  trade,  inhospitable,  and  given  to  pilfering 
and  lying.  They  have  no  substantial  tradition  of  their  origin,  other  than  the  trivial 
one  just  mentioned.  They  are  governed  by  a  cacique  or  head  chief,  who  is  also  their 
chief  priest.  The  succession  is  hereditary  in  the  family  of  the  cacique.  A  few  miles 
to  the  southeast  of  Zufli,  on  the  mesa  of  Gallisteo,  is  what  is  called  Old  Zufii ;  but 
there  is  no  reliable  evidence  that  it  was  ever  the  residence  of  the  ancestors  of  the 
Zuflis.  They  have  been  living  in  their  present  villages  since  the  time  of  the  Spanish 
conquest. 

The  Zuflis  are  mild  and  peaceable.  Their  habits  are  regulated  by  the  sun  and 
moon,  and  by  the  changes  in  the  seasons.  They  have  a  house  where  the  cacique  of 
the  sun  sits,  and  through  a  hole  in  the  wall  tells  by  the  sun's  rays  shining  in  what 
time  of  the  season  it  is.  Especially  does  he  watch  when  the  sun  travels  his  last  day 
northward,  and  with  dancing  and  joy  they  welcome  his  backward  march.  They 
are  economical  to  tho  lost  degree,  and  arc  slowly  improving  in  condition. 

For  many  years  these  Indians  were  at  war  with  the  Navajoes,  and  in  1863  they 
held  one  hundred  of  the  latter  captive.  Finding  it  too  expensive  to  feed  them,  they 
decided  to  give  them  a  chance  for  their  lives  and  liberty.  The  streets  and  alleys 
of  the  town  are  very  narrow,  and  egress  from  them  is  difficult,  unless  one  is  well  ac- 
quainted with  them.  In  the  public  square  of  the  town  the  Zuflis  placed  the  captive 
Navajoes,  and  bade  them  escape  if  they  could.  At  each  corner  were  placed  two 
Zufli  warriors,  armed  with  clubs  and  knives ;  and  npt  one  of  the  Nav^oes  got  out 
of  the  town  alive. 


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ac- 
ive 
two 
out 


THE  TRIBES. 


455 


MOQUIS.  ■     . 

The  Moqui  Pueblos  are  in  Arizona,  and  their  reserve  adjoins  the  Navajoe  Reser- 
vation on  the  west.  It  has  a  population  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety. 
Tiic  Moquis  revolted  against  the  Spaniards  in  1G80,  and  have  since  been  independent. 
Their  houses  arc  built  of  stone  set  in  mortar,  and  for  security  are  perched  upon  the 
summits  of  almost  inaccessible  mesas.  Their  villages  are  Tayroah,  Se-cho-ma-we, 
Jualpi,  Me-sluing-a-na-we,  She-powl-a-we,  and  Shung-o-pa-we.  Ten  miles  west  of 
the  latter  is  Oreybe,  where  dwells  a  distinct  race,  speaking  a  different  language. 

The  Moquis  are  an  agricultural  people,  but  are  very  poor,  as  droughts  are  fre- 
quent and  their  lands  are  not  susceptible  of  irrigation.  The  scarcity  of  water  pre- 
vents stock-raising.  They  were  formerly  a  numerous  people,  possessing  large  flocks 
and  herds,  of  which  they  have  been  deprived  by  their  more  warlike  neighbors  tiie 
NaviijooH.  They  an;  kind-hearted,  hospitjible,  virtuous,  and  honest,  but  their  isolated 
situation  keeps  them  ignorant  and  superstitious.  With  the  exception  of  the  Oreybes, 
who  spoak  the  Tegua  dialect,  the  Moquis  belong  to  the  Shoshone  group. 

The  followii5g  description  of  the  Mocjuis  is  taken  from  the  diary  of  Father 
Francisco  Garccs,  who  in  1775  was  ordered  by  the  Spanish  viceroy,  Bucarali,  to  the 
f/olorado  River : 

"  At  night  I  entered  the  Moqui,  astonished  at  the  sight  of  the  many  people  on 
the  roofs  of  the  houses,  looking  at  me  as  I  passed  with  my  mule  in  search  of  the 
corner  of  tin  preceding  night,  which,  after  making  some  turns,  I  fimnd. 

"  In  this  town  were  two  kinds  of  people,  and  two  languages.  The  first  is  seen  in 
the  color  and  stature  ct"  the  males  and  females,  the  second  in  their  different  manner 
of  singing.  Some  arc  of  a  color  clear  and  somewlipt  red,  and  are  good-looking;  and 
others  are  small,  black,  and  ugly.  When  they  go  out  of  town  they  appear  in  clothing 
like  Spaniards,  wearing  dressiid  skins,  tight  sleeves,  pantaloons,  boots  and  shoes. 
Their  ai-ms  are  '  xavius'  and  lances.  In  town  thoy  wear  shoes,  and  sleeves  of  colored 
cotton  (' manta  pinta'),  and  a  black  blanket  of  the  sort  they  make.  The  women 
wear  tunics  as  low  as  the  ankle,  without  sleeves,  and  a  black  or  white  shawl  over  the 
head  like  a  square  mantilla, — the  tunic,  confiaed  by  a  belt,  usually  of  a  variety  of 
colors.  Thoy  do  not  pounce  or  paint  themselves,  nor  did  I  see  l)cads  on  them,  or 
ear-rings.  The  old  women  wear  the  hair  in  two  braids,  and  the  young  women  in  a 
tuft  over  each  ear,  or  altogether  drawn  to  one  side,  taking  much  care  of  it. 

"Notwithstanding  that  they  did  not  favor  me,  I  formed  iue  idea  that  there  were 
many  good  people  among  them,  and  that  the  bad  were  nly  those  who  governed. 
There  might  have  l>cen  other  reasons  for  this  besides  that  of  not  wishing  to  be  bap- 
tized, or  of  admitting  Spaniards  into  their  country  ;  like  that  of  knowing  that  I  had 
come  from  the  Tamajabs  and  from  the  Yuinas,  friends  of  their  enemies,  and  rnnse- 
qucntly  they  held  me  as  the  spy  of  the  Yavipais,  Tejua,  and  Chemeguabas.  They 
also  knew  thai  [  came  from  and  Wius  a  minister  among  the  Piinas,  with  whom  they 
were  at  war,  as  I  had  l)een  told  by  the  Indians  of  my  mission  ;  and  Iwcause  of  this. 


456 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


and  the  ruins  which  are  found  on  the  river  Gila,  I  have  suspected  that  anciently 
the  Moquis  extended  as  far  as  there.  I  asked  some  old  Sabaijiuris  of  my  mission, 
many  years  ago,  who  had  made  those  houses  which  were  fallen  down,  and  the  earthen- 
ware that  is  found,  broken,  in  various  places  on  the  river  Gila ;  for  neither  the  Pimas 
nor  Apaches  know  how  to  make  such.  They  answered  me  that  the  Moquis  only 
know  how  to  make  those  things;  and  they  added  that  the  neighboring  Apaches 
are  not  related  among  themselves ;  that  there  are  some  much  farther  to  the  north, 
where  they  used  to  go,  long  since,  to  figh*. ;  but  they  had  never  been  up  into  the  pla- 
teau where  these  people  lived.  This  information  was  confirmed,  in  that  the  Yavipais 
took  out  for  me  a  bowl  of  earthen-ware,  like  the  cups  found  in  the  house  of  Monte- 
zuma ;  and  I  asking  them  whence  they  had  gotten  it,  they  said  that  in  the  Moqui 
there  is  much  of  that  ware.  As  I  did  not  go  into  a  house,  I  could  not  see  any  in 
them ;  but  from  below  I  saw  on  tho  azoteas  some  large  colored  pots.  So  likewise  the 
Gila  Pimas  have  told  me  that  anciently  the  Apaches  came  from  the  house  which  is 
called  of  Montezuma,  to  give  them  battle ;  and  it  being  certain  that  those  whom  we 
know  for  Apaches  have  no  house  or  fixed  habitation,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  they 
were  the  Moquinos  who  came  to  fight,  the  which  were  made  war  upon  by  the  Pimas, 
who  have  ever  been  numerous  and  brave,  and  that  they  forsook  these  habitations  of 
the  jiver  Gila,  as  tliey  have  that  ruined  town  which  I  found  before  coming  to  Moqui, 
retiring  to  where  they  now  live,  in  that  advantageous  position,  defended  as  it  is  with 
so  many  precautions  against  every  attack. 

"  Within  the  town  there  was  no  water,  but  on  the  side  to  the  east  I  saw  an  abun- 
dant spring,  with  a  de^^cending  stairs  of  stone,  and  curbing  of  the  same.  In  my 
corner  I  rested  that  night,  and  my  mule  was  t^iken  by  the  Yavipais  to  the  pen  of 
the  preceding  day." 

YUMAS. 


Of  the  Yuma  group  of  Southern  Arizona  and  Southern  California,  a  portion  of 
the  Mohaves  live  at  the  Colorado  River  Agency  ;  the  Pimas,  Maricopas,  and  Papagoa 
are  at  tlie  agency  named  for  tlioni ;  a  liirge  number  of  the  various  bands  of  Apaches 
and  of  the  Mohaves  are  at  the  San  Carlos  Agency,  in  Arizona ;  while  the  Yunias, 
Cocopas,  Ilualapais,  and  others  are  not  on  reservations.  The  Mohaves  at  the  Colorado 
River  Agency  number  about  four  thousand,  of  whom  only  eight  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  are  on  the  reservation,  the  rest  either  roaming  at  large  or  being  fed  at  other 
reservations.  They  are  industrious  and  fond  of  agriculture,  and  skilful  in  raising 
their  crops  under  tiie  adverse  circumstances  of  their  location.  They  are  willing  and 
anxious  to  work,  but  make  slow  ])rogress  in  civilization.  The  parents  objecting  to 
the  education  of  their  children,  no  schools  have  been  established  among  them.  The 
land  of  the  Apaches  is  fertile  in  the  valleys,  and  water  is  plenty  from  the  mountain- 
streams.  The  squaws  cultivate  the  soil,  ami  the  men  hunt,  fish,  and  fight.  The 
Coyoteros  had  a  famous  chief,  Cochise,  reckoned  the  ablest  and  most  vindictive  Indian 
in  Southern  Arizona.  J  lis  animosity  was  nttributed  to  an  ill-advised  attempt  to  take 
him  and  his  family  prisoners  with  a  view  to  holding  them  as  hostages  for  the  return 


i;i 


^m^ 


THE   TRIBES. 


457 


of  property  stolen  by  some  other  Indiiins.  A  reservation  was  set  apart  for  them  at 
Camp  Goodwin  in  1866,  some  fifteen  liundred  of  them  drawing  rations  there  at  one 
time.  But  on  their  refusing  to  deliver  up  some  prisoners  who  were  reported  to  have 
attacked  a  train,  they  became  alarmed,  and  fled  to  the  mountains,  remaining  hostile 
until  1871,  when  they  were  placed  on  their  present  reservation.  The  Aravapais, 
or  Mohave  Apaches,  at  this  agency,  were  the  bravest  and  most  inveterate  of  our 
Indian  foes  in  Arizona,  and  had  more  than  once  defeated  our  troops  in  action.  The 
Hualapais,  a  brave  and  enterprisii.g  race,  located  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Black 
Mountains,  live  by  the  chase,  and  have  little  stock.  For  several  years  following 
1866  they  were  hostile  to  the  whites,  who  killed  in  that  j  oar  their  head  chief,  Wamba 
Yuba,  on  a  mere  suspicion  that  he  had  been  concerned  in  the  killing  of  a  white  man. 
They  number  about  fifteen  hundred. 

The  Indians  of  the  Yuma  stock  are  scattered  along  the  borders  of  the  Lower 
Colorado  and  its  affluents  the  Gila  River  and  the  Bill  Williams  Fork.  Their  name 
is  derived  from  one  of  the  tribes, — the  Yumas, — whom  their  neighbors  frequently 
call  Cuchans,  or  Ko-u-tchans.  They  number  about  two  thousand,  and  inhabit  the 
country  near  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado  River.  Tliey  gain  a  scanty  subsistence  by 
planting  and  wood-cutting.  Scattered  tribes  are  the  Kumnos,  and  the  Yavipais  or 
Yampais,  east  of  the  Colorado  River. 


:l 


PAPAGOS. 

These  Indians,  numbering  about  six  thousand,  are  of  the  same  class  in  some  re- 
spects as  the  Pueblos  of  Nc"  Mexico,  living  in  villages,  cultivating  the  soil  and 
raising  stock  for  a  support.  They  have  no  reservation,  bi^t  inlmhit  the  southoii.stern 
part  of  the  Territory.  Many  of  them  have  embraced  ^Christianity,  and  tliey  are 
generally  well-behaved,  quiet,  and  peaceable.  They  msi  -^t  a  strong  desire  to  have 
their  children  educated.  They  have  no  treaty  relations  >\  ihr  United  Btntes,  artd 
receive  no  a-ssistance  from  the  government.  They  are  industrious,  ami  excil  in  the 
manufacture  of  mats  and  pottery. 


PIMA8   AND   MAIirCOPAS. 

The  earliest  S|)anish  accounts  of  the  Piniiis  locate  the  tribe  in  the  Gila  Valley, 
very  nearly  in  the  position  which  they  now  occupy.  This  is  about  two  hundreu  iiid 
forty  n.iles  above  the  present  site  of  Fort  Yuma,  at  the  junction  of  the  Gila  and 
Colorado  Rivers.  Their  association  with  the  Coco  Maricopas  luis  produced  a  general 
concurrence  in  manners  and  customs,  dress,  and  modes  of  living,  the  same  kind  nt' 
houses,  and  the  same  general  policy;  but  the  language  is  different,  and  the  Iji 
are  an  entirely  distinct  tribe,  having,  according  to  their  own  traditions,  come  to  their 
present  pasition  from  the  west.  Tlieir  union  with  the  Pimas  is  recent.  These  tribes 
are  said  to  have  been  in  former  years  "  Village"  or  "  Pueblu"  Indians.  Missions 
were  early  established  among  them  by  the  Spaniai'ds,  with  good  success. 


458 


THE  INDIAN  TRIBES   OF   THE   IGNITED  STATES. 


Tlie  Piinsw  assert  that  their  ancestors  migrated  to  their  present  position  from  the 
east,  or,  as  they  phrase  it,  the  rising  sun.  Like  most  of  tlie  Indian  tril)es,  mingling 
fable  with  fact,  they  assert  that  their  first  parent  was  caught  up  to  heaven.  After 
this,  those  of  the  tribe  that  remained  on  earth  wandered  west,  and  fixed  their  abode 
ou  the  Gila. 

The  men  and  women  of  the  Pimas  and  Coco  Mari(!oj)as  have  the  custom  of 
wearing  long  hair  reaching  to  their  waists.  They  put  it  up  in  twists,  and  sometimes 
coil  it  around  their  heads  ;  by  others  it  is  allowed  to  hang  down  the  back.  In  front 
it  is  cut  straight  across  the  forehead,  where  it  hangs  in  a  thick  nuiss  and  ])rotects 
their  eyes  from  the  glare  of  the  sun.  The  sexes  practise  this  custom  alike,  the  only 
perceptible  dillerence  being  that  the  males  wear  their  liiiir  the  longest.  It  grows 
very  thick.  They  sometimes  put  it  up  as  a  turban,  with  a  kind  of  clay,  which  serves 
to  give  permanency  to  the  coil  or  folds  of  this  species  of  tiara. 

With  resjiect  to  their  history,  it  may  be  suggested  that  prior  to  the  era  of  the 
Spaniards  the  country  they  now  occupy  was  inhai)ited  by  the  Navajoes  or  Moquis,  who 
have  passed  north  to  their  present  position.  The  Pima  language  bears  a  dose  rela- 
tionship to  the  various  dialects  of  the  Opata  family,  and  to  a  number  of  languages 
spoken  in  the  interior  Mexican  States. 

The  two  tribes,  numbering  about  five  thousand,  .occupy  a  reservation  of  tw» 
hundred  i  iid  forty-three  scpiare  miles,  set  apart  for  them  un-.'cf  the  act  of  February 
L'8,  I80I),  and  located  in  the  central  part  of  the  Territory,  on  the  (lila  River.  They 
have  always  been  jjeaceful  and  loyal  to  the  government,  are  considerably  advanced 
in  a  rude  form  of  civilization,  are  industrious  farmers,  and  are  nearly  self-sustaining. 
They  are  greatly  interested  in  the  education  of  tlieir  children,  and  have  two  schools 
in  successful  operation.  They  produce  the  best  wheat  in  the  Territory.  They  wear 
citizens'  dress  and  live  in  houses.  They  are  brave  and  enterprising,  and  have  fre- 
(juently  accompanied  our  troops  lus  scouts  and  guides. 

The  Maricopas,  of  whom  there  are  but  about  iive  hundred,  are  among  the  best 
and  most  useful  of  all  the  tribes. 


iND  or  vou  I. 


ai 


11^1  ■. I  i;l!'  riuiN-i    rili;iVI    iNKVV  IVI  KXlcii 


